Gap shrinks in close Assembly race

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A close Westside Assembly race got even tighter when Los Angeles County elections officials released an updated vote tally Friday afternoon.

Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom’s 212-vote election night lead over Assemblywoman Betsy Butler dropped to 103 votes.

Both candidates for the 50th Assembly District are Democrats and their Nov. 6 competition was made possible by the state’s new primary system, which sends the top two vote-getters to the general election, regardless of party.

The Registrar-Recorder’s office announced it had counted an additional 98,896 ballots countywide, mostly mail votes, since election night. More than 693,000 remain.

Officials could not say how many ballots are yet to be tallied in specific contests. The next update is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Statewide, some 3 million have yet to be processed. The uncounted are mostly vote-by-mail ballots submitted on election day and provisional ballots that include those turned in by people whose names were not on the lists at polling places but who believe they are registered to vote.

Counties have until Dec. 4 to finish tabulating the eligible ballots.

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-- Jean Merl