SACRAMENTO, Calif — The primary election may be over in California, but ballots are still being counted.
The latest totals show more than 140,000 ballots still need to be counted as of Friday.
It's a lengthy process for election workers to get ballots from drop boxes and post offices fully tabulated.
The latest numbers from Sacramento County indicate nearly 143,000 ballots must still be counted as of Friday, with just over 180,000 ballots having already been processed.
"More than half of our voters waited until Election Day to cast their ballots, so once those get to our office, we have to process them and then get them through tabulation. And it's just a slow process. Accuracy takes time and we want to make sure that we get it right," said Ken Casparis, spokesperson for Sacramento County:
According to data from the Secretary of State’s Office, Sacramento County has the second most unprocessed ballots in California, with Los Angeles County with the highest.
Sacramento County spokesperson Ken Casparis said that doesn't take into consideration the large size of the county and the number of registered voters. More than 300,000 ballots were cast in this election.
"Right now, we have about 44% of ballots left to process as of that last report, but that puts us ahead of 16 other counties," said Casparis.
Registered voters get their ballots counted right on election night. The votes that are still being tabulated now are vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at post offices and drop boxes. It also includes conditional voter ballots.
The election office has 30 days to certify the election, until April 4.
With so many votes still left to count, a lot can change after election night. That's especially true for close races like the Sacramento mayoral race, where the top four candidates are all within one point of each other.
While totals are updated by the elections office twice a week, Casparis said election workers continue to count ballots every day.
The Sacramento County elections office will update ballot totals Tuesday at 4 p.m.
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