Nithya Raman led Mayor Karen Bass by 16,594 votes in Los Angeles County's posted results for the November 3 mayoral election, with more eligible ballots still to be processed. The count remains preliminary.
The county's official bulletin, stamped November 4 at 3:11 a.m. Pacific, put Raman at 377,458 votes, or 51.12%, and Bass at 360,864, or 48.88%. Additional ballots can change both the margin and each candidate's share.
For Los Angeles voters, the next developments are additional ballot-count updates and the verification of ballots still moving through the system. The county says it is processing ballots around the clock through Friday, November 6.
What the lead means
The two candidates' posted totals add up to 738,322 votes. Raman's advantage is about 2.25 percentage points of those votes, using the underlying totals before rounding. Bass would need a net gain of 16,595 votes over Raman from additional counted ballots to move ahead by one vote, assuming no other adjustments to the existing totals.
The remaining valid ballots will determine whether Bass can erase that gap or Raman can extend it. Their number and candidate preferences are needed to assess either outcome.
Countywide turnout figures answer a different question. The same bulletin reports more than 2.1 million ballots across Los Angeles County, which includes many voters outside the city. That number cannot serve as the denominator for the city mayor's race or establish how much of that contest remains uncounted.
The county also says vote-by-mail precincts appear in its precincts-reporting figure when those ballots are tallied in the first bulletin. That measure describes the reporting process. It does not mean all eligible mailed ballots have arrived or finished verification.
Why ballots are still being counted
The county's election-results guidance says preliminary totals will change as additional eligible ballots are processed. Teams are working day and night to receive, verify, process and count them.
Mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day can still qualify if received within seven days. For this election, that means November 10. The additional receipt window covers ballots mailed on time. It does not extend the November 3 voting deadline.
Conditional registrations and provisional ballots also require review before they can be added to the count. An outstanding ballot therefore does not automatically become another vote in the next bulletin. It first has to clear the applicable checks.
The county's published canvass schedule provides morning and afternoon updates on November 5 and 6, further updates during the canvass, and a planned certification on November 27. Certification is the formal completion of the county's review. It is separate from an earlier news organization's projection or a candidate's concession.
How the race reached this point
Bass held a small lead in the first Tuesday-night returns before Raman moved ahead overnight, LAist reported.
Both candidates are Democrats. Raman, a City Council member, campaigned to Bass's left. The winner will lead a city facing housing costs, homelessness and Palisades Fire recovery while preparing for the 2028 Olympics.
Checking your own ballot
California's Where's My Ballot? service tracks the status of vote-by-mail ballots and offers email, text or voice notifications. An individual ballot's status provides information that the public candidate totals cannot.
If an envelope signature is missing or does not match the registration record, Los Angeles County says it will notify the voter and request a Signature Verification and Unsigned Ballot Statement. Follow the county's instructions for that notice.
The secretary of state's signature-verification page gives a receipt deadline of 5 p.m. November 25 for completed statements in the statewide general election. Returning a required statement addresses the signature problem. It does not reopen voting or allow a new candidate choice.
