Perez Leads Yee by 117 Votes For Second in Controller's Race

Assembly Speaker Emeritus John Perez leads State Board of Equalization member Betty Yee by 117 votes in the see-saw race for the second spot on the November ballot for state controller entering today's resumption of counting previously unprocessed ballots.

Perez has 867,553 votes, to Yee's 867,436, according to figures released Wednesday by the Secretary of State's Office. Both candidates have 21.8 percent of the vote.

Perez was 1,689 votes ahead of Yee, a fellow Democrat, entering Wednesday's count.

The estimated number of ballots remaining to be processed stood at 119,126 as of 4:06 p.m. Wednesday -- 72,523 vote-by-mail ballots, 33,746 provisional ballots and 12,857 ballots that are either damaged and could not be machine-read and need to be remade or were diverted by optical scanners for further review, the Secretary of State's Office said.

Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, a Republican, leads the six-candidate field with 984,600 votes, 24.7 percent. Another Republican, certified public accountant David Evans, is fourth with 837,259 votes, 21 percent, 30,294 votes behind Perez.

Under the "top two" system adopted by voters in 2010, the top two finishers, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election.

Perez, D-Los Angeles, led Yee by 388 votes entering Tuesday's ballot count by county election officials and 322 votes entering Monday's.

Yee held a 2,834-vote lead entering last Thursday's resumption of counting and a 4,113-vote lead entering Friday's count.

Yee moved into second June 11 after beginning the day in third, 1,128 votes behind Perez.

Perez reclaimed second place June 10. He had trailed Yee by 351 votes when counting ended for the day June 9.

When counting from all precincts was completed early June 4, Perez was 2,436 votes ahead of Evans, who was in third place. Evans moved into second place June 5, 1,405 votes ahead of Perez.

Perez moved back into second June 6, 2,725 votes ahead of Evans and 3,177 ahead of Yee.

Yee moved into second June 9 and her lead over Perez grew to 1,197 in the initial figures released June 10.

Under state law, county election officials must complete the vote counting by July 4. The Secretary of State's Office has until July 11 to review the materials, resolve any reporting discrepancies and compile the 58 county reports for complete election results.