Where the California governor’s race stands 6 days after Election Day

It’s been nearly a week since Election Day, and the California governor’s race is still undecided, with millions of votes left to count. Here’s where the California governor primary results stand as of Monday:

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Who is leading the California governor’s primary?

In California, the two highest vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party, advance to the final November ballot. On Friday, Democrat Xavier Becerra officially advanced in the California governor’s primary. The former state attorney general’s competition is still in flux, however. 

As of Monday afternoon, conservative commentator Steve Hilton holds the lead for second place over billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer. Hilton was the top choice for 25.9% of voters, with 1,810,119 total votes, and Steyer has 1,504,358, or 21.5% of the vote. No other candidate is anywhere close to the three leaders. Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has about 741,000 votes so far, and former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter is in fifth with just 309,000 votes. 

If you’re curious how each county has voted so far, check out our interactive map of the governor’s race results. 

How many more votes are left to be counted?

According to the California Secretary of State’s office, there are approximately 3 million unprocessed ballots as of Saturday evening. Over 6.3 million ballots have been counted. Overall, 19,788 of 19,788 precincts are at least partially reporting results. Updated vote totals normally drop in the evenings. 

California’s election results must be certified by July 10. 

Why does California take so long to count votes?

The Secretary of State’s office explains on its site that there are a few reasons why Californians often wait days or weeks for the full results. Mail-in ballots that are received within a week of Election Day need processing, which means some ballots still in the mail system may need counting. Once a ballot is received, the Secretary of State says “elections officials must confirm each voter’s registration status, verify each voter’s signature on the vote-by-mail envelope, and ensure each person did not vote elsewhere in the same election before the ballot can be counted.”

That’s no small feat for a state as large as California, which has about as many residents as the entire population of Canada. Nonetheless, both Republicans and Democrats agree the process should be speedier. On Friday, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office told SFGATE that Newsom “wishes the vote count moved faster, too.”

Hilton has used the glacial pace as a campaign issue, calling California “the laughing stock of America when it comes to counting votes” and demanding Newsom free up budget to hire workers to speed up the counting.