State Board of Equalization member Betty Yee increased her lead to 659 votes over Assembly Speaker Emeritus John Perez on Friday in the see-saw race for the second spot on the November ballot for state controller.
Yee led her fellow Democrat by 318 votes entering today’s count of previously unprocessed ballots.
Yee has 876,670 votes to Perez’s 876,011, according to figures released today by the Secretary of State’s Office. Both candidates have 21.8 percent of the vote.
The estimated number of ballots remaining to be processed stood at 8,878 as of 4:33 p.m. Friday — 5,934 vote-by-mail ballots, 2,897 provisional ballots and 47 ballots that are either damaged and could not be machine-read and need to be remade or were diverted by optical scanners for further review, the Secretary of State’s Office said.
Ballot counting has been completed in 51 of California’s 58 counties, while 110 ballots remain to be processed in Los Angeles County. Of the remaining unprocessed ballots, 6,053 are in Lake County, north of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Perez was 117 votes ahead of Yee entering Thursday’s ballot count. Yee then concluded a daily count ahead of Perez for the first time since last Friday.
Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, a Republican, leads the six-candidate field with 1,000,285 votes, 24.8 percent. Another Republican, certified public accountant David Evans, is fourth with 848,338 votes, 21 percent, 28,338 votes behind Perez.
Under the “top two” system adopted by voters in 2010, the top two finishers, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election.
Perez, D-Los Angeles, led Yee by 1,689 votes upon the completion of Tuesday’s ballot count, 388 votes after Monday’s and 322 votes after last Friday’s.
Yee held a 2,834-vote lead after the completion of the June 11 count and a 4,113-vote lead after the June 12 count.
Yee moved into second June 11 after beginning the day in third, 1,128 votes behind Perez.
Perez reclaimed second place June 10. He had trailed Yee by 351 votes when counting ended for the day June 9.
When counting from all precincts was completed early June 4, Perez was 2,436 votes ahead of Evans, who was in third place. Evans moved into second place June 5, 1,405 votes ahead of Perez.
Perez moved back into second June 6, 2,725 votes ahead of Evans and 3,177 ahead of Yee.
Yee moved into second June 9 and her lead over Perez grew to 1,197 in the initial figures released June 10.
Under state law, county election officials must complete the vote counting by July 4. The Secretary of State’s Office has until July 11 to review the materials, resolve any reporting discrepancies and compile the 58 county reports for complete election results.
