Butler slips farther behind Bloom in latest vote update

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Assemblywoman Betsy Butler has slipped 888 votes behind Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom in their close race for an Assembly seat on the Westside.

The most recent ballot tally by Los Angeles County election officials, released Monday afternoon, showed Bloom with 89,705 votes to Butler’s 88,817. This is the widest margin to date in the race as counties continue to process ballots they were unable to count on election night.

Counties have until Dec. 4 to finish counting those ballots, which consist of some mail-in ballots; some so-called ‘provisionals,’ which have to be checked against voter registration rosters and verified as valid; and some too damaged to be read by tabulating machines.

Both candidates are Democrats who competed in the Nov. 6 general election because of the state’s new ‘top two’ primary system. Incumbent Butler had substantial backing from Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) and the California Democratic Party.

County officials, who have been processing ballots daily and posting updated tallies every few days, could not say how many ballots remain to be counted in this race.

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