ELECTION RESULTS: Calvert, Stone, Paule and Melendez Steal the Lead

Front-runners emerged as final vote tallies were completed early Wednesday, following Tuesday's California Presidential Primary Election.

There was a preliminary 22.19 percent voter turnout, according to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters Office.

County Supervisor

In the race for Third District County Supervisor, Jeff Stone received 65.65 percent of the vote as of results released at 1:15 a.m. by the Registrar's Office. Challenger Joe Scarafone had 34.35 percent, with 100 percent of precincts reporting.

Stone earned a third term as supervisor for the district that includes Murrieta and Temecula.

Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, who will term out as legislator, earned a spot for a November runoff election for the First District Supervisor against incumbent Bob Buster.

67th Assembly District Primary

In the 67th Assembly District race, Phil Paule led with 28.01 percent of the vote after final tallies were released. Melissa Melendez—with 23.30 percent—had a lead over fellow Lake Elsinore City Council member Bob Magee, who had 19.95 percent. Next were Murrieta School Board member Ken Dickson with 18.83 percent and William Akana with 9.91 percent.

Paule and Melendez will likely square off in November for the seat, once official votes from Tuesday are tallied.

42nd Congressional District Primary

Incumbent Ken Calvert led the race for the 42nd Congressional District seat with 50.96 percent of the vote, meaning he will likely take on Michael Williamson, who was next with 14.62 percent, in the November election.

"It is truly an honor to receive the most votes in today's primary for the 42nd Congressional District," said Rep. Ken Calvert, in an emailed announcement. "Today's results make it clear that voters believe we must stop attacking job creators with new taxes and job-killing regulations. As we now look ahead to the upcoming election in November, I will continue to talk with Riverside County voters about the steps we need to take to get our economy on the right track. I am once again privileged to be the endorsed candidate and standard bearer of the Party of Lincoln and Reagan in November's election."

Cliff Smith had 11.04 percent of the vote, Clayton Thibodeau had 9.03 percent, Eva Johnson 8.22 percent and Curt Novak 6.14 percent.

Senate Race

Incumbent Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, led in the senatorial race with 37.02 percent of the vote. Next was Republican Elizabeth Emken with 14.96 percent. Statewide, Feinstein had garnered 49.5 percent of the vote with 90 percent of precincts reporting as of 2 a.m.

Emken had 12.5 percent, the next highest of the 23 challengers, meaning she will likely challenge Feinstein for the Senate seat in November.

Presidential Primary

In the presidential primary, Sen. Mitt Romney led with 81.53 percent of the Riverside County Republican vote. The next closest was Ron Paul with 8.54 percent of the vote. Romney captured 79.6 percent of the state vote, while Paul had 10.2 percent of the statewide Republican vote as of the latest results.

Roseanne Barr took the lead in the Green Party presidential primary in Riverside County, but lost statewide to Jill Stein.

Gary Johnson claimed it for the Liberatarian Party in Riverside County as well as in the state.

Murrieta resident Stewart Alexander lost his bid to serve as the presidential candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party in November, coming in with 30.09 percent of the vote. Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson will likely be the party's candidate on the November ballot.

Laurie Roth won the American Independent Party nomination in Riverside County, but Edward C. Noonan captured the majority of the statewide vote.

Propositions

It was a close contest for both statewide ballot measures, but it appeared early Wednesday that Prop 28 passed and Prop 29 did not.

Riverside County voters,  62.21 percent voted yes on Prop 28—term limits for state legislators—and 60.23 voted no on Prop 29, which was seeking to add a $1-per-pack tax on cigarettes. Statewide, as of 2 a.m., 50.6 percent had voted no on Prop 29, and 62.9 percent were in favor of Prop 28.

Central Party Committees

Vote counts indicated Dan Hollingsworth stole the lead for the Riverside County Republican Central Committee 67th District, which has six seats. Hollingsworth had 18.05 percent of the vote as of the final tally Wednesday. Next was Scott Mann with 16.36 percent of the vote. Murrieta resident Steve Rawlings had 14.57 percent of the vote, Harvey Ryan had 11.41 percent, Robert Seibert had 10.34 percent, Murrieta City Councilman Randon Lane had 9.42 percent, Menifee City Councilwoman Darcy Kuenzi had 7.74 percent, Murrieta resident Diana Serafin had 6.09 percent and Frances Burns, 6.01 percent.

For seats on the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee 67th District, Bonita "Bonnie" Connoley had 17.48 percent of the vote, Conrad L. Melton had 16.03 percent, Gail Ferrell had 13.82 percent, Susan J. Dye 13.6 percent, Shirley Walton had 13.59 percent, Douglas P. Dye had 13.26 percent, Boyd Roberts had 7.59 percent and Chuck Reutter had 4.64 percent.

Judicial Races

Superior Court Judge James "Jim" Cox of Indian Wells appeared to have successfully fended off a challenge tonight from defense attorney Michael Kennedy of Joshua Tree and appeared bound for another six-year term.

Superior Court Judge Gary B. Tranbarger held a comfortable lead tonight over challenger and former prosecutor Richard T. Nixon and appeared heading for another six-year term.

With more than half the votes remaining to be counted, Superior Court Judge Craig Riemer maintained a narrow lead tonight over veteran prosecutor John Henry in his bid to retain his post.

More Votes to Tally

Approximately 38,000 vote by mail, 7,000 provisional, and 4,200 damaged ballots that require duplication still must be processed, according to the Registrar's Office. Work on those ballots begins Wednesday. The next updated results will be posted at approximately 6 p.m. on Friday, according to the Registrar.

—City News Service contributed to this report