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The recount is underway in the overtime contest between Juan Vargas and Assemblywoman Mary Salas. But for how much longer? Salas requested the new tally after finishing just 22 votes behind Vargas. That’s about $100,000 in independent expenditure spending on Vargas’s behalf for every vote in that lead, but that’s besides the point, for now. Salas requested ballots be recounted in Riverside and San Diego counties – the two counties in the district where Salas fared better than Vargas. And because she’s paying for the job, Salas got to pick the order in which the precincts in those counties get counted. All of the ballots within the counties will be counted eventually, unless Salas pulls the plug first and concedes defeat. And two days into the recount, the movement was in the wrong direction for Team Salas. Vargas actually picked up a couple of votes over Salas and now holds a 26-vote lead, best we can tell. Not only is Salas not gaining ground, she’s actually falling further behind. If this trend continues, we wonder when Salas will fold her tent and concede the race to Vargas…

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