Kevin Kiley remains ahead of Kermit Jones for the 3rd District congressional seat, and has been ahead all week. Yet the race remains one of the few in the nation where no winner has been declared.
A big reason is that, as of Friday evening, 82,000 ballots in Placer County, the district’s largest county, have yet to be counted.
That’s Kiley’s base—he’s a Rocklin assemblyman—but he’s ahead of Jones by about 10,500 votes district-wide. He has a roughly 52% to 48% edge over Jones, a physician and Democrat, percentages that have been fairly steady throughout the counting process. Seventy-two percent of the votes are in.
In Placer County, new numbers released Friday showed Kiley leads Jones, 56% to 44%. Kiley is up about 10,000 votes in the county.. The district has nine other counties stretching from the Sacramento suburbs to Inyo County.
A big reason for the deliberate count in Placer County is that most of its voters voted by mail. Just over 16,000 people voted in person on Election Day. The county is not certain of the total vote by mail, since some ballots may still come in from other counties.
Counting by mail is a lengthy affair, a five-to 10-step process that involves capturing an image of every envelope, verifying signatures and addresses, checking to make sure people have not voted twice, and more, said Stacy Robinson, public information assistant for the Placer County election office.
Most mail ballots needed to be postmarked by Election Day, November 8, and received no later than November 15. Ballots sent mistakenly to other counties are still being received.
The counters have been working six or seven days a week since October 23.
“While speed is desirable, accuracy is non-negotiable,” Robinson said.
The office cannot say when all the counting will be done, though it does have to certify the results by December 8.
In the meantime, Robinson said anyone who wants to know more—or see the counting process—can call or visit the office at its Auburn headquarters.
Updates will be issued twice weekly until the results are certified. To see the most current numbers, visit https://www.placercountyelections.gov/election-night-results/.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 1:15 PM.
.jpg)