Greg Wallis leads by 34 votes over Christy Holstege for Assembly seat

Greg Wallis led by 34 votes against Democrat Christy Holstege as of Friday afternoon in the incredibly close race to represent Assembly District 47.

The lead has been flip-flopping since Election Day, and Holstege, a member of the Palm Springs City Council, was winning by a razor-thin margin before Riverside County posted its final certified vote results Thursday.

San Bernardino County, which also contains part of the district, still had 2,250 ballots to be processed as of Friday afternoon. Another update from the county registrar was expected Monday afternoon. The registrar's office did not respond to a request for comment Friday regarding when the results will be certified.

With an unknown number of ballots left in San Bernardino County, Wallis has 84,669 votes and Holstege has 84,635 votes.

Holstege has won the majority of votes from Riverside County: 70,758 to Wallis' 60,303 there. But Wallis, a staff member for retiring Assemblymember Chad Mayes. leads big in San Bernardino County: 24,366 votes to Holstege's 13,877.

California does not have automatic recounts but allows anyone, including candidates and members of the public, to pay for one. When asked Wednesday by The Desert Sun if she may request a recount depending on the vote margin, Holstege said "we are waiting on final results." Wallis did not respond to a request for comment on possible next steps.

A spokesperson for the Riverside County registrar of voters said it typically costs about $1 per ballot to conduct a recount. In Assembly District 47, that would equate to roughly $130,000 for a full recount in Riverside County, home to just under 80% of the district's voters.

The newly constituted 47th District, a result of last year's redistricting, includes parts of the western and central Coachella Valley. It covers much of what was inside the previous 42nd District and also portions of San Jacinto and Hemet, plus Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, La Quinta, Idyllwild and an area extending east nearly to Desert Center.

Regardless of the final result, the 47th Assembly District race is poised to be one of the closest legislative races in California in recent memory. Alex Vassar, communication manager with the California State Library, said in a tweet Friday it was the closest vote margin in a legislative race in a general election dating to 1958.

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.

Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com or on Twitter @tomcoulter_.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Greg Wallis retakes lead over Christy Holstege: election results