1:10 a.m.
Los Angeles schools executive Marshall Tuck and Assemblyman Tony Thurmond will advance to the general election in California's nonpartisan race for superintendent of public instruction. Tuck won 37 percent of the vote and Thurmond garnered 33 percent as of early Wednesday.
The schools chief race has become a proxy battle in a larger fight over how best to improve California schools. On one side are charter school proponents supporting Tuck. On the other are teachers unions backing Thurmond.
Early returns show Democrats Eleni Kounalakis and Ed Hernandez leading a crowded pack of candidates in the race to become California's next lieutenant governor. Republican Cole Harris is close behind in third place.
The top two candidates regardless of party will advance to the general election under the state's primary election rules.
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12:50 a.m.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed is maintaining her lead in a tight race for San Francisco mayor that remains too close to call.
An analysis released by San Francisco's elections office early Wednesday showed a possible path to victory for current second-place candidate Mark Leno, a former state senator.
The city uses an unusual ranked-choice voting system in which voters select their top-three favorites. Leno and candidate Jane Kim, who is in third place, asked supporters to vote for the other as their No. 2 choice on the ballot.
With about 154,000 votes counted early Wednesday, Breed had about 36 percent of the vote.
Leno had 26 percent of first-place votes and Kim had 23 percent.
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12:40 a.m.
Californians have approved a ballot measure allowing the state borrow $4 billion for parks and conservation projects that proponents say will help ensure access to clean drinking water.
Proposition 68 passed Tuesday with about 56 percent of the vote.
The measure lets California issue general obligation bonds to fund parks in underserved neighborhoods and provide money for clean drinking water and flood-prevention projects.
It also includes $200 million to help preserve the state's largest lake, the Salton Sea.
Proponents say the measure will help the state mitigate natural disasters such as wildfires and floods and expand community park access. Opponents didn't want the state to take on new bond debt.
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12:35 a.m.
San Francisco voters have approved a ban on selling flavored tobacco products including menthol cigarettes, certain chewing tobaccos and vaping liquids with flavors like cotton candy, mango and cool cucumber.
Election results early Wednesday showed Measure E leading with 68 percent of the vote to 32 percent opposed.
San Francisco supervisors last year unanimously approved the ban, saying the nicotine masked in flavors serve as starter products enticing kids to become smokers.
But the ban was put on hold after R.J. Reynolds collected enough signatures to put it on the ballot. The company pumped at least $12 million into the campaign against the measure.
Critics noted that California already raised the smoking age to 21 and say a ban would only drive sales underground.
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12:25 a.m.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (HAH-vee-air Bah-sehr'-ah) will face a retired Republican judge in his bid to keep the job he was appointed to last year.
The Democrat had about 45 percent of votes Tuesday and retired former Judge Steven Bailey had about 26 percent with nearly 3 million votes counted in the four-way race.
GOP attorney Eric Early and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, a Democrat, trailed behind. Becerra, a longtime congressman, was appointed last year to replace Kamala Harris when she was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Becerra has relentlessly challenged President Trump on policies he said harm Californians. His challengers say Becerra has neglected other important issues because of his fixation with Trump.
Bailey is facing sanctions from the state's judicial watchdog for several alleged improprieties.
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12:20 a.m. Wednesday
California Democrats have been denied their supermajority in the state Senate.
Voters in an Orange County district on Tuesday elected former Republican Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang in a recall election against a Democrat.
Voters removed Democratic Sen. Josh Newman from office over his vote to raise gas taxes last year. \
That means Senate Democrats won't hold the two-thirds majority needed to pass tax and fee increases.
Newman narrowly won the traditionally Republican district in the 2016 election, and both parties saw him as vulnerable.
A Republican-backed effort to repeal the tax increase is likely to be on the November ballot.
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11:45 p.m.
Californians have rejected a proposal to change how the state allocates funds from its cap-and-trade program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Proposition 70 received a 62 percent "no" vote in Tuesday's election.
The ballot measure would have required a one-time, two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature starting in 2024 to determine how program money is spent. That could have given Republicans a greater say in the process.
The program generates billions of dollars each year by requiring polluters to buy permits to release greenhouse gases.
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11:35 p.m.
Northern California voters have recalled a judge from office after he sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexual assault to a short jail sentence instead of prison.
Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky was targeted for recall in June 2016 shortly after he sentenced Brock Turner to six months in jail for sexually assaulting a young woman outside a fraternity house on campus. Prosecutors argued for a 7-year prison sentence.
Critics say the sentence was too lenient.
The case gained national prominence after the victim read an eloquent statement in court before Turner's sentence. The statement circulated widely online and was read on the floor of the U.S. Capitol during a congressional session.
The recall election was also viewed as one of the first electoral tests of the #MeToo movement's political clout.
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11:30 p.m.
The Orange County-area state senator who voted to raise gas taxes is out of a job.
Nearly two-thirds of voters recalled Democratic Senator Josh Newman Tuesday after he voted last year to increase fuel and vehicle taxes to raise about $5 billion a year for road repairs.
More than a third of voters were supporting Newman's 2016 opponent, former Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, to replace him. That would keep Democrats below a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate.
A Republican-backed effort to repeal the tax increase is likely to be on the November ballot, and the Newman recall election was considered an early test of where voters stand.
Recall leader Carl DeMaio says the vote shows that politicians who supported the gas tax "will pay the price at the ballot box."
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9:50 p.m.
Former Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is holding an early lead in his bid to get his old job back and become the first independent to win statewide office in California.
Poizner, a former Republican, had about 43 percent of vote and Democratic Sen. Ricardo Lara had about 38 percent with nearly 2 million votes counted. Dr. Asif Mahmood, a Democrat, had about 13 percent.
Lara would be the first gay Latino to hold statewide office in California and Mahmood would be the first Muslim to win such a seat.
The two with the most votes will run against each other in November to replace Dave Jones, a Democrat who served the maximum two terms and is running for attorney general.
Both Democrats support universal health care, a policy Poizner opposes.
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9:40 p.m.
A ballot measure to let California borrow $4 billion for parks and conservation projects is leading in early returns.
Proposition 68 has 55 percent of the vote Tuesday with close to 2 million votes counted.
It's one of five statewide propositions on the ballot.
Proposition 70, which would change how the state allocates revenue from its cap-and-trade pollution program, is losing in early returns. About 61 percent of votes are against the measure.
Voters approved the other three ballot measures. One requires that California spend money from a recently-approved diesel tax and vehicle fee on transportation projects.
Another gives tax breaks to homeowners who install rain capture devices and the third measure delays the effective start date for ballot measures by about six weeks.
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9:25 p.m.
The Orange County-area state senator who voted to raise gas taxes could be out of a job.
With about 38,000 votes counted Tuesday, nearly two-thirds of voters favored recalling Democratic Senator Josh Newman after he voted last year to increase fuel and vehicle taxes.
More than a third of voters were supporting Newman's 2016 opponent, former Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, to replace him. That would keep Democrats below a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate.
Voters also were leaning against re-nominating a former state senator — Tony Mendoza — who resigned over sexual harassment allegations but wanted his old seat back.
The election decides which top-two vote-getters — no matter their political party affiliation — will square off in November for all 80 Assembly seats and half the 40 Senate seats.
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9:23 p.m.
Early returns show Democrat Eleni Kounalakis and Republican Cole Harris leading a crowded pack of candidates in the race to become California's next lieutenant governor. Democrat Ed Hernandez is close behind in third place.
The top two candidates regardless of party will advance to the general election under California's primary election rules.
Former Los Angeles schools executive Marshall Tuck and Assemblyman Tony Thurmond are in the top two spots in the nonpartisan superintendent of public instruction race. Tuck leads with 38 percent of the more than 1.7 million votes counted.
Two Democratic incumbents, Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Controller Betty Yee, are leading in their races.
Democrat Fiona Ma and Republican Greg Conlon lead in early returns in the treasurer race.
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9:20 p.m.
Democrat Gavin Newsom has secured the first of two slots in the November election to replace Jerry Brown as California's governor.
The lieutenant governor and former San Francisco mayor defeated rivals from both parties in Tuesday's primary.
Newsom was the first candidate to announce a bid for governor more than three years ago. He leaned heavily on his decision in 2004 to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in San Francisco, touching off years of debate over gay marriage in California and around the country. He says the move shows he's willing to take bold steps on liberal priorities.
He's been open about his desire to face a Republican in the November runoff.
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9:15 p.m.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has a healthy lead in the race to retain the job he was appointed to last year.
Becerra, a Democrat, has about 43 percent of the vote in early returns while retired Judge Steven Bailey, a Republican, has about 27 percent.
With nearly 2 million votes counted, Republican attorney Eric Early and Democrat Dave Jones, who is the state insurance commissioner, trail far behind.
Becerra, a longtime congressman, was appointed last year to replace Kamala Harris when she was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Becerra has relentlessly challenged President Trump on policies he said harm Californians. He's sued the Trump administration more than 30 times.
His challengers say Becerra has neglected other important issues because of his fixation with Trump.
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9:05 p.m.
Early returns show San Francisco president of the Board of Supervisors London Breed leading in the race for mayor of the city.
Breed had about 36 percent of the vote with about 80,000 ballots counted Tuesday night.
Former state Sen. Mark Leno was in second place with 27 percent of the vote and Supervisor Jane Kim had 18 percent.
San Francisco could make history by electing its first African-American woman, Breed, for mayor. The city has a flourishing economy led by the tech industry, but it's also plagued by rampant homelessness.
It is the city's first competitive race for mayor in 15 years.
San Francisco uses an unusual ranked-choice voting system in which voters select their top-three favorites.
8:50 p.m.
Democrat Gavin Newsom and Republican John Cox took an early lead in the race to replace Jerry Brown as California governor.
Newsom narrowly led Cox with about 30 percent of the vote in early returns from Tuesday's primary, while Republican Travis Allen and Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa trailed.
Because of California's so-called "jungle primary," the top two vote-getters — regardless of party — advance to a runoff in November.
Newsom is California's lieutenant governor and the former mayor of San Francisco. He was strongly favored to come in first in a race he began almost four years ago.
Cox is a businessman from the San Diego area who has never held elected office.
8:35 p.m.
Early results show voters favoring the recall of a Northern California judge over a sexual assault sentence that garnered national attention.
Santa Clara County's voter registrar reports the first returns Tuesday night show 59 percent of voters favoring removing Judge Aaron Persky from office, with 40 percent opposed.
Persky sentenced former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner in June 2016 to six months in jail instead of prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman outside a fraternity house. The recall campaign launched shortly afterward.
The campaign gained national prominence after the victim's powerful courtroom statement lamenting her treatment by the judicial system was circulated widely online.
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8 p.m.
California polls have closed and results are upcoming in hundreds of contests across the state that could solidify Democratic dominance and reshape the fight for control of the U.S. Congress.
Traffic at polling stations was light Tuesday because many people voted in advance in races setting the stage for the November election.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is the front-runner in the race for governor. President Donald Trump tweeted support for Republican businessman John Cox.
The Secretary of State's Office said more than 2.5 million people had voted by mail as of Monday night.
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5:55 p.m.
More than 2.5 million people had voted by mail in California's June 5 primary election as of Monday night.
Data from the California Secretary of State's Office shows about 13.5 percent of registered voters cast mail ballots. That number will increase as residents vote in person on Election Day and as mail ballots continue to come in through Friday.
As long as a ballot is postmarked by June 5, it can arrive up to three days later and still be counted. The counting process can take days and sometimes weeks for close races to determine a winner.
About 63 percent of voters received vote-by-mail ballots this election.
Polls in the state close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Turnout appears generally light throughout the state.
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5:30 p.m.
Los Angeles County officials say the names of more than 118,000 voters were omitted from voter lists because of a printing error, but residents can still cast their ballots.
The county's registrar-recorder's office says registered voters can cast provisional ballots in Tuesday's primary election.
They say the issue involves a total of 118,522 voters in Los Angeles County.
Officials say they are still working to identify what caused some names to not be included on printed lists of voters.
They say poll workers have been instructed to offer provisional ballots to every voter whose name doesn't appear on the poll site's roster.
The county says votes cast on provisional ballots will be counted once the voter's registration is confirmed.
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11:46 a.m.
Some California counties are reporting light traffic at polling stations but officials point out many voters are mailing in their ballots.
At Berkeley City Hall most of the voters showing up were dropping off ballots they had received by mail.
In Kern County, Clerk Auditor Susan Rooney says 49,000 out of the 233,000 mail ballots sent out have been turned in as of Tuesday morning.
She says a curbside drop-off for mail-in ballots near her office is seeing a slow but steady turnout.
In Fresno County, no lines are being reported but County Clerk Brandi Orth says voters usually come out at lunch time or after work.
Orth says she saw a "handful of voters" at the stations she visited Tuesday morning.
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