With roughly 2,100 votes left to count, only 279 votes separate the two men still vying for a spot on the November ballot for the 72nd Assembly District.
Since Election Day, Huntington Beach Financial Planner and Republican Travis Allen has held a slim lead over Garden Grove Planning Commissioner Joe Dovinh, a Democrat. Orange County Board of Education Trustee Long Pham, a Republican, has slowly surged into the running with only .1 percentage points now separating him from Dovinh.
The tally of remaining absentee and provisional ballots will be completed by Thursday, said Orange County Registrar of voters Neal Kelley.
“As of today, we have gotten through about 6,000 total counted,” said Kelley.
Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar (R) is the race’s clear winner with 28.1 percent of the votes. The second-highest vote getter will go up against him in the November general election. If Allen wins, it will be an all-Republican race.
On election night, Dovinh signaled that he would be unlikely to call for a recount if the race ends with at least a one-percentage point difference. It only takes one vote to win a race, and if none of the candidates call for a recount, there won’t be one, said Kelley.
“There are no automatic recounts in California, so it would be up to the candidates,” added Kelley.
As of Tuesday night, the race looks like this:
TROY EDGAR 17,791 28.1%
TRAVIS ALLEN 12,526 19.8%
JOE DOVINH 12,247 19.3%
LONG PHAM 12,176 19.2%
ALBERT AYALA 8,641 13.6%
