AAPI Vote 2018: Wait a minute! Ballots still being counted in three races

DEMOCRATS have the majority in the House of Representatives and the Republicans retained their power in the Senate, but for three Asian American candidates, the elections are far from over.

The Nov. 6 voting was not the end for three Congressional races in Texas, California and New Jersey. The contests for Gina Ortiz Jones, Young Kim and Andy Kim  are so close that the victors won't be known until all the ballots are tallied -- including mail-ins, provisional and ballots of overseas service members. It could be several days before it's all over

GINA ORTIZ JONES

In Texas' hotly contested Congressional District 23, with all the precincts accounted for, not all the votes have been counted. There are still the mail-in ballots, ballots from military personnel overseas, and other ballots, although accounted for, have not been tallied. Despite the claim of victory by incumbent Republican Will Hurd, Democratic challenger Gina Ortiz Jones is not conceding.

With all 342 precincts reporting, Hurd received 102,903 votes compared to 102,214 for Ortiz Jones, who isn't ready to wave the white flag.

"This election is not over. Every vote matters and must be counted," Noelle Rosellini, spokeswoman for the Filipina American candidate, said in a statement Wednesday. "Gina's campaign has been powered by grassroots energy from day one, and we won't stop working until every provisional ballot, absentee ballot and military or overseas ballot has been counted."

YOUNG KIM

In the contest for California's 39th Congressional District, the post-election count could take several more days because the district spans three different counties: Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino. There, Republican candidate Young Kim led Democrat candidate Gil Cisneros  split the vote, 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent, respectively, with Young leading by a only 3,871 votes on Wednesday evening.

Spokespeople from both campaigns said they had delegates monitoring the vote counts in all three counties. In Los Angeles County alone, there are at least 984,000 votes still uncounted. The campaigns said they were told that the L.A. County Registrar of Voters will count and issue updates on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Kim’s campaign didn’t comment on her narrow lead. Cisneros said he’ll be patient as results roll in.

“I will wait for the final results with our families and friends right here in the 39th District,” Cisneros said in a prepared statement. “We will let this process play out.”

ANDY KIM

In New Jersey's Congressional District 3, Andy Kim has declared victory in his hope to become the first Korean American member of Congress. But with 7,100 votes still uncounted, he has tempered his statements..

"With the vast majority of votes now in and counted, and based on the numbers we saw from Burlington County today, we have built a substantial lead," he told supporters crowded into his headquarters in a Mount Laurel office park Wednesday night. "I am proud to announce that we have won this hard-fought race."

"I promise you I will be part of that new generation of leaders that are going to step up and focus on what's best for the American people, what we can do for all of us," 

His opponent, incumbent Rep. Tom MacArthur, a two-term incumbent, has not conceded issuing a statement saying, "This has been a hard-fought campaign and like Andy Kim, I'm ready to see it come to an end." 

Kim, 36, who had never run for elected office before, was a civilian advisor to military leaders in Afghanistan and Iraq and national security aide in Democratic President Barack Obama's administration.
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