The results are in.
No, not the results you were waiting for, the final tally of California ballots cast for the state’s Super Tuesday presidential primary. We might not have those for days to come and they won’t be officially certified until April.
But this afternoon state officials published their first estimate of how many ballots are left to be counted.
In a state that holds an “election month, not election day” — where results will trickle in for weeks to come, sometimes flipping the outcomes of tight elections in the process — this is an election nerd’s landmark. It also gives us a few more clues about the final shape of California’s various primary contests.
According to estimates published by county election registrars, as of Thursday night, there are 3.5 million ballots left to count. (The Secretary of State’s office showed a count of about 3.3 million, but that did not include the latest updated numbers from Los Angeles County.)
That small mountain of unprocessed popular will comes courtesy of last minute voters — those who either put their ballots in the mail on Election Day itself, or who voted in person but exercised their California-given right to register or change their political party on the spot.
They also include ballots that were ripped, bent, marred by typos, or that otherwise gave a voting machine a hard time and will thus require the careful study of a human election worker.
What does all of this mean for the various California races still in limbo? We have no idea what all of those ballots say just yet, but this first report offers a few new clues.
Take Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders current commanding lead over former Vice President Joe Biden. Is there a chance that could narrow in the days to come?
Read and see the charts at: Counting Votes
