Republican Majority Possible on California Board of Equalization as Evans Battles Perez for Second Place

As votes continue to roll in from California’s primary election, not all candidates know whether they have made it to November or not. As of 2:53 p.m. Friday afternoon, Republican David Evans had edged out Democrat John Perez by a margin of just 640 votes.

If Evans does best Perez for second place, November’s race will feature a Republican versus Republican battle for the powerful statewide office of Controller in a state known for its heavy Democrat influence. The office of Controller takes the fifth seat on the state’s Board of Equalization.

With just under one million ballots yet to be counted according to the Secretary of State website, Perez still has a chance to regain his lead. It’s notable that Perez is from the L.A. area and Los Angeles County still had over 166,000 ballots to be counted, making up over 16% of the total votes yet to be counted in California. With a high level of name ID, Perez may yet manage to garner the majority of votes in his home county and find himself back in second.

Then there’s the fourth place candidate in the race. Some still don’t consider Democrat Betty Yee to be out of the running to make it to November. Yee shares her last name with Leland Yee, the gun-control-advocating state Senator indicted on charges of arms trafficking and public corruption. Leland Yee has received over 300,000 votes in the Secretary of State race in a testament to the power of name ID despite his alleged crimes. Betty Yee is currently less than 5,900 votes behind fellow Democrat John Perez.

Another notable race is the one for Board of Equalization(BOE), District 4. Republican Diane Harkey has taken the lead over Democrat Nader Shahatit by a margin of over 2,800 votes. These two will be facing one another in November as they take the first and second place in their race, but it is notable that Harkey has taken the lead ahead of the Democrat.

The two-way race for BOE District 1 also came out with Republican George Runner in first with a significant lead. BOE District 2 resulted in a strong first place for Democrat Fiona Ma. Democrat Jerome Horton, the only candidate on the primary ballot, took home 100% of votes cast for a listed candidate in his District. Should the right circumstance take place in November, the possibility does exist that a Republican majority could arise on the Board of Equalization after general election ballots are cast.

According to a representative with the Secretary of State’s office, primary election results may not be finalized until July 11, 2014.