Hours after the polls closed for the Assembly District 63 special general election, Republican candidate Natasha Johnson declared victory.
“It is with immense honor and gratitude to the voters of the 63rd Assembly District for their confidence in electing me as their next assemblywoman,” Johnson said in an email to The Riverside Record. “We ran a positive campaign and it’s clear, voters have spoken, they want balance in Sacramento where one party rule has prevailed for far too long.
“It’s time to get to work on behalf of the residents of Riverside County for a brighter and more prosperous future,” the statement continued.
Throughout the first week of the count, Johnson retained her lead over Democrat Chris Shoults, ending Friday with 34,769 votes compared to Shoults’ 30,222 votes with 65,079 ballots counted. The next update is expected September 2 around 6 p.m.
On Tuesday evening, Shoults said he expected Johnson to be ahead early in the process, noting that his team had made a final push to get out the vote later in the election cycle.
“In the past week, we have knocked almost 5,000 doors, we made 500 calls today, 2,000 in the past week,” Shoults said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “[We did] a lot of work late in the cycle, so we expected these returns early.”
Due to that late push, Shoults said he was more optimistic about the later returns, both from ballots cast in-person on Election Day and mail-in ballots that come into the ROV’s office over the coming days.
“We poured a lot of resources into that,” he said. “And that’s not something that’s going to show up tonight.”
Johnson and Shoults, who received the most votes in the June 24 primary, faced off in the August 26 election in hopes of filling the seat vacated by Bill Essayli, who was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for Southern California in April.
The winner of the race will fill the seat for the remainder of the term that ends next year.
Read more about the candidates here.
The first results were posted shortly after 8 p.m. with Johnson taking an early lead with 28,933 votes, compared to 24,444 votes cast for Shoults, with 53,453 ballots counted. This included vote-by-mail and vote center ballots received prior to Election Day.
Johnson kept her lead following the second update of the evening, with 28,958 votes compared to Shoults’ 24,470 votes with a total of 53,504 ballots counted. This update included vote-by-mail ballots processed after 8 p.m. and any vote center ballots received before 8 p.m. Subsequent updates were posted every hour as the ROV processed additional ballots.
Wednesday’s update brought Johnson’s total to 33,672 votes compared to Shoults’ 28,842 votes with 62,598 ballots counted.
According to the ROV, results are expected to be updated Monday through Friday at about 6 p.m. until all ballots are counted as vote-by-mail ballots dropped off on Election Day and conditional voter registration (CVR) ballots continued to be verified and counted.
Additionally, any vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by September 2, will also be verified and counted.
“The office is committed to ensuring the public remains informed as the electoral process unfolds,” the ROV said in a news release.
👀 Watch live as election workers count ballots 👀
A note about deadlines and results: While polls are set to close at 8 p.m., locations with lines will remain open until the last person in line by 8 p.m. has voted. Additionally, mail-in, provisional and conditional ballots will continue to be accepted, processed and counted for several days following Election Day. The Riverside County Registrar of Voters has 30 days to certify results of the election.
Curious about what happens after you submit your vote-by-mail ballot? We took a tour of the office of the Registrar of Voters to find out more about the process. Find out more here.
The data below will update automatically as results are posted to the ROV’s website.
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