More than 7 million ballots have been counted across the state from last week’s primary election. But in California, counting votes takes a long time: as of Thursday, the Secretary of State’s office reported there are still about 1.4 million ballots remaining to be counted. In Los Angeles County, the latest numbers from the registrar’s office shows about 350,000 ballots still need to be counted. About 1.7 million ballots were cast and counted so far. The Secretary of State has about a month to process all ballots statewide. Counties have to submit their results to the state by July 8, and the state has until July 15 to certify the statewide results. As for how many people voted, the numbers will go up as more votes are counted, but right now statewide voter turnout is tracking at about 41 percent.
In Southern California, there are differences among counties. Orange and Ventura counties are showing much higher turnout than the L.A. area, with participation thus far at 46 percent and 48 percent respectively.
In comparison, L.A. County turnout is currently at 35 percent. That’s fairly typical for county voters looking at recent presidential primaries. Voters in the county have been showing up at rates below 40 percent since 1996. One exception was back in 2008, when Hillary Clinton defeated Barack Obama in California’s primary and turnout exceeded 55 percent in L.A. County.
Full Article: California ballots still to be counted: 1.4 million | 89.3 KPCC.