Victor A. Patton

The Merced FOCUS

For the first time since Nov. 5, Democrat Adam Gray has pulled ahead of incumbent Republican Rep. John Duarte in the race for Congressional District 13.

Gray leads Duarte by a mere 182 votes, 104,503 to 104,321 respectively, according to the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26 update from the California Secretary of State.

The latest numbers came Tuesday evening following results released by the Registrar of Voters offices in Merced and Stanislaus counties.

The race is among three House contests in the nation that have yet to be decided. The Republications retained House control with 219 seats following the election. The Democrats now have 213 seats. Regardless of how the final three races shake out, the Republicans will have to deal with a slim edge.

Curing the Ballots

There are still roughly 1,500 outstanding ballots in Merced County, and all of those require a valid cure letter in order to be counted.

More results are also expected to be released this week fom Fresno and Madera counties.

A cure letter is essentially an affidavit signed by the voter to resolve an issue with their ballot. Melvin Levey, Merced County’s Registrar of Voters, said the most common issue is the voter’s signature on the return envelope doesn’t match or cannot be verified.

In other cases, the ballots have no signature at all, or it appears another member of the household may have signed it.

Levey said California law requires each county to follow up with those voters to resolve those issues. There are about six staffers in the Merced County Registrar of Voters Office working on cure-related issues.

“It’s a lot of detailed work,” Levey told The Merced FOCUS, saying his staff will be working through Sunday. “So much of it is because these laws are so specific about how we need to give folks an opportunity to get their vote counted.”

Levey expects more results will be released by the Merced County Registrar of Voters before 5 p.m. Wednesday. His office expects to release final results by 5 p.m. Monday.

It’s not uncommon for residents to send emails or make phone calls to the Registrar of Voters Office, asking why the count is taking so long.

Levey said he tried to address those questions himself. When he can’t, a member of his staff takes time to explain it to the public.

(GV Wire contributed to this story.)

About the Author

Victor Patton is editor-in-chief of The Merced FOCUS.