California voters heading to the polls Tuesday for the state's primary elections face a familiar problem: the results might not be ready for days, or even weeks. The state's slow ballot-counting machinery, combined with a torrent of last-minute mail ballots, threatens to leave the tightest races unresolved just as the country waits to learn which party might control the House of Representatives.
Election experts expect California's 58 county offices to be swamped. More than a quarter of the state's ballots arrived after election day in 2024, and this cycle could see even higher numbers. Many voters are deliberately delaying their decisions until they have a clearer picture of the crowded three-way gubernatorial race between Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton.
The lag creates political turbulence. Governor Gavin Newsom recently warned county election officials that delay breeds distrust. "Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking hold," he wrote in a letter urging them to accelerate counts. "We face an assault on our democratic values unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes."
For years, those assault narratives have come partly from Donald Trump, who has relentlessly attacked mail voting and baselessly claimed California election results are padded by illegal votes. California Republicans have picked up the theme, using the slow count as evidence of broader conspiracies. One GOP candidate, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, attempted to seize 650,000 ballots this year searching for fraud, only to be blocked in court.
Kim Alexander, who leads the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan voting rights group, has spent years pushing for faster counting. "The more time that passes between election day and when results are known, the more voter confidence erodes," she said, noting that the delay fuels false claims despite California having "the most accessible, secure and verifiable election system in the country."
The culprit is not fraud but thoroughness. Poll workers must manually verify signatures against registration records for every mail ballot. If voters forget to sign their envelope or make other mistakes, officials offer them time to fix the problems so their votes still count. This painstaking process protects ballot integrity but grinds the count to a halt when millions of envelopes arrive in the final days.
The state legislature has passed several new laws requiring counties to count non-problem ballots within 13 days instead of 30, tighten reporting deadlines, and limit windows for signature corrections. But the measures came with no funding attached. County election officials have complained loudly that they are being asked to do more with the same shoestring budgets.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber opposed one of the bills, arguing it squeezed counties too hard. Critics counter that her office has not aggressively lobbied lawmakers for the resources needed to expand poll worker ranks and upgrade systems. Weber's office said she has "emphasized" the need for funding but declined to respond directly.
Some wealthy counties have shown what's possible when money flows. Los Angeles County built a $10 million ballot processing facility and improved its one-week count from 77 percent in 2022 to nearly 97 percent two years later. Orange County has similarly boosted its output. Alexander points to these successes as proof that California does not have to choose between speed and accuracy. "We can have all of those things if we're willing to pay for it," she said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has embraced a ballot measure set for November that would require strict voter ID and citizenship proof, claiming it addresses election integrity. Critics note that states with similar rules, such as Indiana and Ohio, show no evidence of the fraud such measures purport to prevent, while documented impact on lower-income and minority voters is real.
Author James Rodriguez: "California has the tools to count faster and stay secure, but only if it actually funds the work. Watching the state repeat this cycle every two years while blaming the system instead of fixing it is maddening."
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