*Bercera
California will have to wait for weeks before knowing the final outcome of the June 2 gubernatorial primary election as the country’s most populous state continues counting ballots.
State election officials notoriously begin processing ballots postmarked by Election Day after in-person voting ends. It might take weeks to know the final results, they warn.
“California elections officials prioritize the right to vote and election security over rushing the vote count,” said Secretary of State Shirley Weber in a June 2 news release. “We have a process that by law ensures both voting rights and the integrity of elections, so I would call on all Californians to be patient.”
At the moment, about 56% of the total votes have been counted, and the tally has Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator, leading Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former Biden administration Cabinet secretary, according to the Associated Press.
Hilton holds 27.5% of the vote while Becerra, who surged in the campaign’s final stretch, sits at 25.6%. But nipping at their heels is Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist, who currently sits in third place with 19.8%.
“There’s about 3.5 million to 4 million votes still out there yet to be counted,” Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., a Sacramento-based bipartisan voter data firm, told USA TODAY. Mitchell estimates around 9 million voters, roughly fewer than 40% of California’s 23 million registered voters, participated in the primary.
“We should definitely know more at least by Friday,” Mitchell said, adding that the 9 million voter participation is two million higher than the 2022 primary in which current Gov. Gavin Newsom easily sought reelection.
