There still are thousands of ballots to count in Fresno County. These races could change
Close to 90,000 ballots still remain to be counted in Fresno County, leaving several central San Joaquin Valley races too close to call.
The Fresno County Registrar of Voters Office says about 86,340 ballots remain to be counted and that does not include anything still in the mail postmarked before Tuesday.
Of the ballots on hand, about 82,000 came through the mail. The rest are either provisional ballots or conditional voter registration ballots, which means they came from people who registered at a voting center before voting, according to Brandi Orth, the county registrar.
All of the ballots go through a verification process before they are tallied. “That means every single signature on every single envelope has to be compared to the signature on the voter registration file,” Orth said.
Orth said Wednesday she would not estimate how many of the remaining ballots are left specific to close races — in particular, the TJ Cox-David Valadao congressional contest.
“We are working the volume accurately and thoroughly,” she said.
The office tallied 279,899 ballots collected through Election Night, which is about 56% of the registered population.
Fresno and Madera announced they do not expect to update the Election Night numbers again until Friday afternoon or evening.
Merced County Registrar Barbara Levey said with many votes left to count, it’s possible Merced County residents and candidates will have to wait for the next round of election updates. She did not immediately have an estimate on ballots remaining.
“The results that are currently in place are the unofficial results, and there remains thousands and thousands of ballots to count,” Levey said.
Races shape up
The Associated Press called the 22nd Congressional District race for Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, on Wednesday.
After starting out behind on Election Day, Nunes hurdled into the lead over Phil Arballo, a Fresno businessman.
State Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula of Fresno has a commanding lead of 62% of the vote for the 31st District. He appears to be in a good position to hold off Republican challenger Fernando Banuelos (37%).
Races still going
Ballots in Fresno and Madera counties still need to be counted in House Districts 4 and 16. The 16th District also covers all of Merced County.
Incumbent for District 16 Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, has a significant margin with 60% of the vote over the almost 40% of votes for Kevin Cookingham, a businessman.
District 4 Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, leads slightly at 53% compared to challenger and businesswoman Brynne Kennedy, who has 47%.
Fresno and Tulare counties’ ballots also hold sway over U.S. District 21 and state Assembly District 26.
District 21 challenger David Valadao of Hanford has a small lead at 51% over 49% for Rep. TJ Cox, D-Fresno. Valadao held the seat before being beaten out by Cox in 2018.
Assemblymember Devon Mathis of Visalia holds 54% of the vote ahead of Democratic challenger and health care advocate Drew Phelps, who has 45% in the Tulare County-based race.
City races
All of Fresno’s local races were sewed up in March, including the election of Mayor-elect Jerry Dyer, but some smaller cities were on the November ballot.
Fowler City Council is seeing a tight race for three seats among six candidates: Karnig Ronald Kazarian (20.5%), Juan Mejia (20.3%), Daniel Parra (18.8%), Leonard Hammer (18.6%), Patric Jones (12.9%) and Alexander Christof Grimaldi (8.6%).
Hammer and Parra are separated by fewer than a dozen votes.
The three candidates for two seats on the Mendota City Council are also locked in a race separated by few votes. Oscar Rosales has 33.1%, Jose Alonzo garnered 30.5% and Victor Martinez holds 29.9%.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 11:47 AM.
