Winners? Losers? So many ballots aren’t counted in Southern California that we might not know for weeks

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While Democrats claimed victory Wednesday in a pair of formerly GOP-held House seats, campaign officials said the huge number of mid-term ballots still to be counted mean many other key races throughout Southern California might not be decided for weeks.

Electoral clarity came to two regional House districts, the 49th, which covers southern Orange and northern San Diego counties, and the 25th, which includes part of northern Los Angeles County.

In the 49th, Democrat Mike Levin held 53.5 percent of the vote late Wednesday, enough that the Associated Press declared him the winner over Republican Diane Harkey. The seat has been held by GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, who is retiring.

In the 25th, Democrat Katie Hill held 51.3 percent of the vote late Wednesday, enough that incumbent Rep. Steve Knight, a Republican, conceded.

Both seats were two of several targeted in California by Democrats in their successful effort to take control of the House of Representatives.

“We’re thrilled. It’s really a victory for so many people who have worked incredibly hard to flip this district,” said Levin, a San Juan Capistrano environmental attorney, referencing the scores of protesters who for more than a year rallied outside of Issa’s office every Tuesday.

But in Orange County, home to four closely-watched House races, 420,000 ballots still aren’t counted, amounting to nearly 40 percent of all votes cast. Similar proportions of uncounted ballots exist in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Those backlogs of uncounted ballots prompted candidates in some close contests to say little Wednesday afternoon, not wanting to concede or declare victory too early.

Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), a 30-year incumbent, trailed first-time candidate Democrat Harley Rouda by 2,682 votes in Orange County’s coastal 48th Congressional District, a one-time Republican stronghold. The congressman’s campaign spokesman, Dale Neugebauer, said the tally was so close that they wouldn’t be issuing another statement until the vote count was completed.

“We expected this to be a close race, and that we might have to endure California’s absurdly long ballot counting process,” Neugebauer said.

Rouda appeared on MSNBC, saying that his campaign was “getting close to the finish line.”

During the June primary, when the 48th had similarly close vote totals, it took three weeks to determine which Democrat would finish in the top two and advance to the November ballot. In that election, the county had to count about 167,000 post-election ballots. This time, there’s more than double that total, a result of Orange County’s high turnout this election.

In the county’s inland 45th Congressional District, Democrat Katie Porter is hoping that the post-election counts eat into the 6,233-vote lead held late Wednesday by two-term GOP Rep. Mimi Walters. Porter’s campaign didn’t concede or issue any other statement on Wednesday. Walters, meanwhile, took to Twitter to say she was cautiously hopeful.

“While the results are not yet official, I am confident that we will emerge victorious,” Walters wrote.

A few dozen political volunteers and lawyers flooded the Orange County Registrar of Voters on Wednesday afternoon, as the office began counting the remaining ballots. Observers included representatives from Rouda, Rohrabacher, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The scene is one that’s likely to play out daily until the election is decided, as Democratic and Republican campaigns oversee — and argue about — the counting process.

In the contest for the 39th Congressional District, the post-election count could take longer because the district spans Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties. There, Republican candidate Young Kim led Democrat candidate Gil Cisneros, 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent — a total of 3,871 votes on Wednesday evening.

Spokespeople from both campaigns said they had delegates monitoring the vote counts in all three counties. But in Los Angeles County, where at least 984,000 votes remain uncounted, the campaigns said they were told that the Registrar of Voters will count and issue updates on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Kim’s campaign didn’t comment on her lead. Cisneros said he’ll be patient as results roll in.

“I will wait for the final results with our families and friends right here in the 39th District,” Cisneros said in a prepared statement. “We will let this process play out.”

Other narrow races in Orange County could be swayed by the high number of uncounted votes. That includes a tight contest for the county’s 4th District Board of Supervisors’ seat and another for the state’s 74th Assembly District.

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