It could be weeks before the winner of the Manteca mayoral race between incumbent Steve DeBrum and challenger Ben Cantu is determined.

It was announced Thursday that there are still almost 92,000 outstanding ballots in San Joaquin County that have yet to be counted, meaning like every local race has the potential to be impacted.  The votes yet to be counted were either mailed in or dropped off at polling places. It is a lengthy process counting them as signatures must first be verified.

A number of those ballots are expected to be ready to be counted later today with updated tallies being posted on the county elections website.

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According to the post that the registrar’s office made to its website today, the exact location of where the outstanding ballots were cast won’t be known until the ballots themselves are tabulated – meaning there is no way of knowing exactly how many of those outstanding ballots could affect Manteca races that are being counted today.

There are, according to the registrar’s report, 70,972 vote-by-mail ballots that have yet to be counted, 633 conditional voter registration ballots, 18,190 provisional ballots and 1,975 “other” ballots to bring the total to 91,770.

The first official semifinal update to the election returns is expected to post at 5 p.m. today, and will be updated again on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 5 p.m., Friday Nov. 16 at 5 p.m., Monday, Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. and Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 5 p.m.

The registrar has posted a goal to have all vote-by-mail ballot reported by Monday Nov. 26 and most provisional ballots counted by Wednesday, Nov. 28 – posting the results of each at 5 p.m. – which means that some races likely won’t be decided until well after Thanksgiving.

While the backlog in ballot counting could affect other races as well – particularly the race to see who represents California’s 10th Congressional District.

While Republican Incumbent Jeff Denham currently holds a small lead over Democratic Challenger Josh Harder, the challenger is actually beating the incumbent in San Joaquin County – a portion of the district that includes Ripon and a chunk of Manteca.

The final update before the election results are certified in San Joaquin County is currently scheduled Monday, Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. The final official results will be posted no later than Dec. 6, when they are certified by the Registrar of Voters and forwarded on to the California Secretary of State.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.