Although McClintock’s numbers are expected to climb from this point onward, can anyone cite to me a single instance of a Republican who actually gained votes during a tabulation of early and absentee ballot or ended up after a recount farther ahead of the Democrat?
Great question!!!
My answer is... NEVER!!! NOT EVER!!!
Republicans in CA used to pull ahead on absentees... all the time.
In 1990, Dan Lungren lost the AG’s race by 50,000 votes on election day, but ended up the winner after the absentees were counted.
Eventually, the Dems caught on to absentee voting and the big advantage is no longer there.
I hate to tell you that it happens quite a bit. That's not to say that the rats don't steal close races, but I think sometimes they drop the ball and don't have enough ballots stashed away beforehand. Or else their crooks are busy elsewhere.
When Willie Brown finally lost control of the California Assembly in 1994 the 41st seat on election day was Steve Kuykendal who was only winning by 80 votes the next day. We spent three weeks at the Los Angeles County registrar and the count went up and down and back and forth, and when it was all over Kuykendal won by something like 580 votes.
Right now there is a very important count going on in California's 19th Senate District. This is important because Democrats only need two Reps to reach the 2/3 necessary to pass a budget or raise taxes. There is already one Republican who always caves in, so this last seat is very, very critical. The day after the election, the Republican Tony Strickland was down by several hundred votes, but now after the good LA precincts have come in, he's ahead by 1500 votes and is probably going to win (this mirrors Tony's first Assembly race where he was down to a handful of votes on election day and eventually won.)
So it does happen. Sad to say but this has been one of my unofficial pastimes the past 15 years. When there is a close race I get dragged out to hang around those dreadful bureaucratic hallways. At least this year Tom McClintocks counties are within driving distance of my home so I don't have to stay in a cheap motel somewhere.