A 600-vote lead is big enough for Leticia Castillo to declare victory in what would be an upset in the race for a state Assembly seat representing part of the Inland Empire.

“To the voters, thank you for placing your faith and trust in me,” Castillo, a Republican, said in a statement issued Tuesday night, Nov. 26. “I will work tirelessly in Sacramento to fight for the People, striving to improve the lives of my constituents and all Californians.”

Castillo’s opponent, Democrat Clarissa Cervantes, isn’t ready to concede.

“There are still well over a thousand votes likely left in this race, and we are committed to ensuring every single vote is counted,” Cervantes said via text. It’s not clear where she’s getting that figure.

Cervantes said her supporters have helped “hundreds” of voters correct problems with their ballots that prevented them from being counted.

“However, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters appears to be waiting until the last minute to review most of these cures, risking the disenfranchisement of voters whose signature cure forms are deemed to still not match their voter registration card signature enough,” she said.

“We urge the Registrar to act swiftly and fairly to ensure that every cured ballot is reviewed thoroughly and every voter’s voice is heard. This election is too important to let bureaucracy stand in the way of democracy.”

The registrar’s office did not immediately respond Wednesday, Nov. 27, to a request for comment.

Going into Wednesday, Castillo led Cervantes by 600 votes — 50.2% to 49.8% — out of more than 155,000 ballots counted in California’s 58th Assembly District, according to online results posted by the California Secretary of State.

According to Castillo, just 500 ballots remain to be counted in the district. It’s not clear how her campaign arrived at that figure, but in a Wednesday email Castillo said her campaign declared victory based on registrar’s data and its analysis of the estimated unprocessed ballots in both Inland counties.

The 58th — Jurupa Valley, Grand Terrace and parts of Corona, Eastvale and Riverside — is currently represented by Cervantes’ sister, Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, D-Riverside, who is moving to the legislature’s upper chamber after winning a state Senate seat in the Tuesday, Nov. 5, election.

The plan was for Clarissa Cervantes, a Riverside city councilmember, to take her sister’s place in the Assembly. The 58th is friendly ground for Democrats, who make up 43% of the district’s registered voters compared to 28% for Republicans.

Clarissa Cervantes’ road to Sacramento got bumpy in 2023, when she pleaded guilty to drunk driving. It was her second DUI conviction in less than 10 years, and it became fodder for attacks against her in a primary featuring fellow Democrat and Riverside City Councilmember Ronaldo Fierro.

Despite that, Cervantes beat Fierro in the March primary and raised close to $1 million for her campaign, compared to roughly $81,000 that Castillo took in for her Assembly bid.

In her email, Castillo said her campaign is aware of the “significant voter registration gap between Democrats and Republicans” in the district.

“Our victory over the well-funded, well-supported, and well-known Clarissa Cervantes is a testament to the grace of God, the support of my family, the strategy and hard work of my team, and the will of Californians who have had enough of policies that have been detrimental to the daily lives of individuals, families, and businesses,” Castillo wrote.

If Castillo wins, two of the three assemblymembers representing the city of Riverside and its plurality of Democratic voters will be Republicans. The city is divided between the 58th, 60th (Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Moreno Valley) and 63rd (Assemblymember Bill Essayli, R-Corona) districts.

Castillo, a marriage and family therapist and Corona native, has consistently held a lead of at least several hundred votes in the days following the general election.

California takes weeks to count votes due to the large volume of mail-in ballots, which must be counted as long as they’re postmarked on or before Election Day and arrive no later than a week after Election Day.

Elections officials in Riverside and San Bernardino counties said they expect to wrap up vote-counting by Tuesday, Dec. 3.

The post Leticia Castillo declares victory in race for Inland Empire Assembly seat appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Still haven’t cast your ballot? Here are some last-minute reminders:

• Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day, Nov. 5. Those unsure if their ballot will make it in the mail in time can also bring their ballots to any polling location in the state or a ballot drop box in their counties by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
• Traditional in-person voting: Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 5. Click here to find your polling location.
• The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 election was Oct. 21, but residents can also register in person on Election Day for a conditional ballot. Click here to learn more.

Local Races

Riverside County has a plethora of contests. Depending on where you live, your ballot may be chock full of local races to decide. Here’s a look at everything being voted on in Riverside County (scroll to see all the races):

—U.S. Senate

A consequential contest to watch is the race for the U.S. Senate seat long-held by the late Dianne Feinstein. In fact, voters are casting their ballot twice in this race, choosing a candidate to finish out Feinstein’s current term and again for the next term, which begins in 2025.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey are both vying for the seat. Schiff, a progressive favorite in the Golden State, has served as a Democratic congressman here since 2000, representing the state’s 30th Congressional District in Los Angeles County.

Garvey, formerly an All-Star for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, advanced in March to the November ballot as a first-time political candidate. Republicans have failed to advance a candidate in two of the last three U.S. Senate races, making Garvey’s defeat of Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, a rare feat for the GOP in blue California.

According to a recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California, Schiff holds a 28 point-lead (63 percent to 35 percent) over Garvey. Schiff gained widespread name recognition for his role in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. Read more about that race here.

—U.S. House

As for congressional races, the state’s most competitive contests for the U.S. House seats in California are primarily in three regions — the Central Valley, Orange County and the Inland Empire, according to the Public Policy Institute of California’s most recent election report. The competitive races include districts 3, 9, 13, 22, 27, 40, 41, 45, 47 and 49.

Currently, the GOP holds seven of these seats. Here’s a brief breakdown of the candidates in each competitive area:

• District 3, which hugs the Nevada border from Death Valley to the Sacramento suburbs, will see another contest between Republican Incumbent Kevin Kiley and returning Democratic candidate Jessica Morse. Kiley previously attempted to run for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s seat in a failed recall attempt.
• District 9 centered in Stockton pits Democratic incumbent against Republican challenger Kevin Lincoln II.
• In District 13 covering the San Joaquin Valley, Republican incumbent John Duarte — who flipped the seat red in 2022 for the first time since 1974 — will go up against Democrat Adam Gray. Since Redistricting in 2022, the district is considered a left-leaning swing district whose voters went for Biden in 2020 but chose a Republican representative in 2022.
• District 22 in the San Joaquin Valley will have Republican incumbent David G. Valadao challenge Democrat Rudy Salas. Both candidates were neck-and-neck during the March primary, with Valadao receiving 32.7 votes to Salas’ 31.3. Redistricting has shifted the 22nd to the left since 2020, making Valadao one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the House.
• In District 27, which covers northeast Los Angeles County, GOP incumbent Mike Garcia is pitted against George Whitesides, a former chief of staff of NASA during Barack Obama’s presidency and a formidable challenger for Garcia, who has held the seat since 2020.
• In District 40, covering northeast Riverside County, Democrat Joe Kerr will challenge Republican incumbent Young Kim.
• District 41 will have Republican incumbent Ken Calvert face off against a much younger Democratic contender, Will Rollins. Calvert is the longest-serving GOP member in California Congress. Rollins, who is gay, has clashed with Calvert over LGBTQ+ issues, which may prove to be a challenge for him in a district that encompasses Palm Springs.
• Orange County’s District 45, covering inland north county communities, is diverse both politically and by ethnicity, since the area hosts the largest population of Vietnamese people in the nation. There, Republican incumbent Michelle Steel will face off against Derek Tran, a Democrat known for his advocacy for workers’ rights.
• District 47, another Orange County stronghold, is currently represented by Rep. Katie Porter, who did poorly in the March primary and is not seeking reelection. Former GOP state legislator Scott Baugh, who lost to Porter previously, will challenge Sen. Dave Min.
• District 49 will see Democratic incumbent Mike Levin go up against Republican challenger Matt Gunderson.

—State Measures

Of course, it wouldn’t be a major election in California if there were not a slew of proposed propositions on the ballot.

There are 10 statewide propositions being voted on, including two $10 billion bond measures for school construction and to address climate change. There are also two amendments to the state constitution, one which would repeal the unenforceable ban on same-sex marriage and another that would make it easier for bond measures to pass by lowering the voter threshold from the current supermajority needed to approve bond measures.

However, the most hot-button measure on the ballot is Proposition 36, which seeks to reverse some of the criminal justice reforms passed when voters approved Proposition 47 a decade ago. If Prop 36 passes, it could significantly increase prison time for some drug and theft offenses that are currently misdemeanors.

The post Riverside County Election Guide: Deadlines, Reminders appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

SARAH HOFMANN | Contributed

Mail-in ballots for the March 5 election have started to arrive and in Riverside County are causing some confusion. Some residents are having trouble seeing the ovals, or bubbles, printed next to candidates’ names, and said they aren’t sure how to mark their choices.

Palm Springs resident Jeannette Dreisbach said that, when she opened her ballot this week, she didn’t see any ovals. Dreisbach called the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, where she said an employee told her to look at the ballot again — under a bright light. The ovals were there, Dreisbach said, but hard to see.

Her family’s ballots looked the same, she said. “I said, ‘Well, most people are not going to take it up to a bright light’,” she said Thursday, Feb. 8, voicing concern about whether voters would be able to complete ballots accurately. “You’d think there’d be a heavy emphasis on that outline,” she said Friday, Feb. 9, likening the situation to a basketball player who can’t see the hoop.

Riverside County voting officials said no ballots are missing the ovals, but they may be harder to see than usual. As of midday Friday, the registrar’s office had received about 33 calls and emails about the issue, spokesperson Elizabeth Florer said. Voters who can’t see the ovals can request that the office print a new ballot, on which the ovals’ lines will be thicker, she said.

The office “will provide the ballot in the most convenient way” for the voter. The registrar has received about 7,000 completed vote-by-mail ballots as of about 5 p.m. Friday, Florer said. In San Bernardino County, the Registrar of Voters “has not received any complaints” about ballot ovals, spokesperson Melissa Eickman said in a Friday email. As in Riverside County, San Bernardino County’s ballots have ovals “printed with light red ink,” which Eickman said has been used since the March 3, 2020, election.

Dreisbach said she hopes the Riverside County registrar’s office will have some kind of response. “People make mistakes, but the mistakes can be interpreted as fraud,” she said, referring to national concerns about voter fraud. Some have expressed worry about voting systems in recent years, though many officials have said there’s no evidence that voting machines have lost or changed votes.

An Associated Press investigation found fewer than 475 cases of fraud among the six states called into question during the 2020 presidential election, for example. Similarly, an investigation of Riverside County’s 2020 election process found no signs of fraud, though some are still unconvinced. Riverside County has seen election issues in recent years.

In 2020, duplicate ballots were mailed to about 42,000 Riverside County residents. Similarly, in San Bernardino County, 27,000 duplicate ballots were sent that year. And, in 2021, about 11,000 Riverside County special election ballots were mailed to voters too late to be counted. About a week ago, on Friday, Feb. 2, the county tested its voting system, which reassured some who observed the process. Days ago, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors considered, but then withdrew, a plan Tuesday, Feb. 6, that was intended to improve voter confidence in part by manually inspecting 2% of ballots instead of the current 1%. As for the ovals’ different appearance, Riverside County officials said it was caused by a vendor.

Riverside County’s vote-by-mail ballots were printed by ProVoteSolutions, which is based in Tulare County. The company’s website states that it “produces approximately 35 million ballots for 42 counties in multiple states.” Its president, Paul Mantey, sent a statement to Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco on Friday.

The company found that the ballot artwork from the voting system vendor, which was used for the printed ballots, had thinner ovals than have previously been on ballots, Mantey said, which resulted in the lighter appearance. The same change occurred on all of Riverside County’s vote-by-mail ballots, which were mailed to the county’s 1.3 million registered voters earlier this month — though some will vote in person on Election Day. Ballots at the polls will have clearer ovals, Florer said.

The bubble’s color isn’t new. “We always print (the ovals) in red,” though they may appear pink to some, Florer said. “The ballot scanner is unable to read red ink,” she wrote on Friday, “therefore, it will only pick up what the voter intended using blue or black ink.” The use of red ink helps ensure voting integrity and accuracy, she said, and the color provides a contrast across different-colored ballots.

Information: Riverside County Registrar of Voters, 951-486-7200.

More ballot and election information is available by clicking on voteinfo.net.

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