BY VICTOR A. PATTON

CV Journalism Collaborative

It’s been more than a week since Election Day, but there are still a few races in Merced County where there are less than 100 votes between candidates.

The Merced County Registrar of Voters released more results Thursday, Nov. 14. 

There are still 16,350 unprocessed ballots to count, so like Lenny Kravitz said, “It A’int Over ‘til It’s Over.” 

One of the best examples of this is the race for mayor in the City of Livingston. There, incumbent Mayor Jose Moran is ahead, but not by much.

According to Thursday’s results, Moran is ahead of his opponent, Councilmember Jason Roth, by only 46 votes – 1,180 votes to 1,134 votes respectively.

Another Merced County race where candidates are neck and neck is Los Banos, where incumbent Councilmember Kenneth Lambert has jumped ahead of challenger Tommy Leyva.

Leyva had been ahead of Lambert by 52 votes last Friday. But the latest results show Lambert now leads Leyva by 93 votes – 1,128 to 1,035 respectively.

The race is also relatively close in Atwater City Council District 2, where Kalisa Rochester, former Merced County probation chief, leads political newcomer Adrian Lopez Juarez by 95 votes – 912 to 817 votes respectively.

In terms of other main local races, Thursday’s results didn’t bring many seismic changes.

In the race for Congressional District 13, incumbent Rep. John Duarte continues to outpace Adam Gray, leading the race by 2,882 votes, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

In Assembly District 27, incumbent Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria is now far ahead of Republican challenger Joanna Garcia Rose, 62,224 to 54,685 votes respectively.

The next results from the Merced County Registrar of Voters are expected to be released Nov. 19.

Under California law, all counties must certify their vote count by Dec. 3. Levey expects an unofficial total vote count to be finalized before the end of November.