Fong declares victory in Assembly race
Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, in the 34th District, released a statement expressing gratitude to voters for sending him back to Sacramento for four more years.
“I am humbled and honored by the trust that Kern County residents have placed in me to represent them during this critical time for our state,” he said in a statement.
“I never take this duty lightly,” he said. “I will continue to be a strong voice for Kern County and our way of life. More than ever, we need voices of reason and common sense to bring more accountability to Sacramento and to take California in a new direction. I will continue to make that my motivation each and every day.”
The 34th District is entirely contained in Kern County. According to the Kern County Elections Division, as of Monday, Fong has so far garnered 64.7 percent, or 76,807 votes to challenger Julie Solis’ 35.3 percent or 41,929 votes.
According to the state’s elections website, it typically takes weeks for counties to process and count all of the ballots. Elections officials have one month to complete their extensive tallying, auditing and certification work, known as the official canvass.
But this election included even more challenges, including a huge increase in vote-by-mail ballots. In processing vote-by-mail ballots, elections officials must confirm each voter’s registration status, verify each voter’s signature on the vote-by-mail envelope and ensure each person did not vote elsewhere in the same election — all that before the ballot can be counted.
Other ballots processed after Election Day include provisional ballots and ballots that are damaged or cannot be machine-read and must be remade by elections officials.
State law requires county elections officials to report their final results for presidential elections to the Secretary of State by Dec. 1, and all other state contests by Dec. 4. The Secretary of State has until Dec. 11 to certify the results of the election.