On Friday afternoon, the Los Angeles County registrar certified results from the March 5 primary election cementing the victories of three incumbent county supervisors and confirming that District Attorney George Gascón and challenger Nathan Hochman will proceed to a November runoff.
A total of 1,641,715 ballots were processed with 28.9% of eligible L.A. County voters casting ballots, according to the registrar.
While three and a half weeks may feel like a long time to wait for final results, this is the typical timeline for the vote certification process in California. Ensuring that every ballot is counted fairly is a challenge because the state has more than 22 million registered voters and waits for the arrival of all vote by mail ballots postmarked on Election Day.
During the days and weeks following the election, county registrars across the state are busy verifying signatures, reviewing rejected ballots and resolving discrepancies. The Secretary of State’s office will issue a final certification of results on April 14.
Here is where the major L.A. County and state races stood as of Friday’s update.
District Attorney Race
Incumbent George Gascón came in first in the district attorney’s race with 25.2% of the vote, followed by former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman with 15.9% of the vote. The two will face off on the November ballot.
The race will pit the progressive criminal justice reform policies of Gascón against against the tougher-on crime approach of Hochman.
“The voters of Los Angeles County spoke loud and clear on March 5: Gascon’s extreme, pro-criminal policies have failed and the people want a new District Attorney who will advocate for crime victims and strive every day to keep them safe,” Hochman said in a statement released after the certification of results.
Gascón has vowed to stick to his reform agenda, which includes a ban trying juveniles as adults, and on many sentencing enhancements, and on the prosecution of a…
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