During the last decade, California turned a nationwide chief in voter accessibility and safety, increasing choices for when and the way ballots may be forged whereas additionally strengthening election safeguards.
However these reforms got here at a value: velocity. And in a political local weather the place unsupported conspiracies about election fraud can run rampant on social media — pushed, at occasions, by high political leaders — some worry the sluggish vote depend is changing into a legal responsibility.
Election outcomes in recent times have change into extra drawn out in California, most just lately taking a couple of week to find out the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral candidates advancing to November’s runoff after hotly contested primaries. And in prior years, it’s taken even longer to find out tight U.S. Home or state Senate seats.
That trade-off — election accessibility and safety over fast outcomes — has lengthy been defended as a byproduct of California’s need to make it as straightforward as doable to forged a poll whereas making certain accuracy and integrity, one thing backers say stays very important to a thriving democracy.
However some consultants say the rising backlash over the sluggish vote depend sows mistrust.
“We’ve allowed the lengthy depend to be normalized, … however that doesn’t imply it’s regular,” stated Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Basis, who has change into an advocate for accelerating the state’s vote depend. “There’s no query that voter confidence is eroding.”
A slower vote depend doesn’t sign any indication of fraud, regardless of unfounded claims over the past week by President Trump and others. Election officers and nonpartisan teams clarify that voter fraud stays extraordinarily uncommon within the U.S., and there’s been no proof of any such points in California’s newest major depend.
However research have discovered that voter belief slides as outcomes lag, and this major made clear that disinformation positive aspects extra traction the longer contests drag on, particularly with lead modifications.
That got here to move this major, notably as actuality TV character Spencer Pratt slowly misplaced his preliminary second-place rating within the L.A. mayor’s race, earlier than later batches of votes bumped him from the runoff — fueling an onslaught of social media hysteria: claims of so-called corruption and vote dumping, misinformed examples of alleged fraud and right-wing disinformation campaigns.
However making any substantive modifications — notably earlier than November’s basic election — can be an uphill battle, particularly in deep-blue California, the place Democrats have a tendency to withstand limits to voter entry. And a few are urging restraint.
“We should always by no means drive coverage based mostly on conspiracy theories and lies,” stated David Becker, the chief director of the nonpartisan Middle for Election Innovation & Analysis. “That stated, are there issues California can do?”
Some ideas, equivalent to elevated funding for county election places of work and extra schooling about early voting, would most likely make some distinction.
However the crux of the sluggish depend comes from a flood of last-minute mail-in ballots — in a state with about one-eighth of the U.S. inhabitants. When a big share of California’s voters mail or drop off these ballots on or simply earlier than election day — as they have a tendency to — it creates what Alexander calls the “pig within the python” impact: a serious backlog of labor-intensive ballots to course of, in a state that already handles the largest-volume poll counts.
Whereas verification happens concurrently throughout in-person voting, election officers in California are required to verify a voter’s registration standing, confirm every voter’s signature and guarantee every particular person didn’t vote elsewhere for every vote-by-mail poll. Becker referred to as it an “intensively human course of” that can not be sped via — however may very well be unfold out by extra early voting.
“It’s a lot simpler to report outcomes out quicker when ballots are available sooner,” Becker stated.
Altering that course of considerably sufficient to ease that bottleneck would possible include different trade-offs, consultants stated, equivalent to earlier deadlines to show in sure ballots or extra time-consuming poll drop-offs — both of which could dissuade some voters from exhibiting up. Mail-in ballots have overwhelmingly change into Californians favourite technique to vote, with greater than 80% of voters utilizing that methodology in each election since 2020.
However California didn’t change into recognized for sluggish poll counting in a single day. For the reason that flip of the millennium, the state has taken a number of steps to extend voter entry by increasing choices for the way, when and the place voters can forged their poll, whereas additionally strengthening its processes to change into what the secretary of state’s workplace calls “the strongest voting safety requirements within the nation.”
These modifications have included same-day voter registration, extra early voting choices, changing neighborhood-specific polling locations with vote facilities, and most notably, common vote-by-mail, which in 2021 required that each one registered voters be mailed their poll, which may be mailed again, returned to a safe drop field or vote heart or ignored if the voter opts to vote in particular person.
Many Democratic voters this 12 months waited to show of their ballots because of the crowded pool of gubernatorial candidates, which most likely exacerbated the already-slow course of.
Nonetheless, that was anticipated. Election watchdogs and get together officers from each events tried to mood Californians’ expectations concerning the timing of outcomes from the first, reminding voters that it could possible take days if not weeks to name shut races.
However when that actual course of started to play out — notably within the extraordinarily tight contests for California governor and Los Angeles mayor — it virtually instantly introduced criticism and concern.
“Not one of the optics are good,” complained Roxanne Hoge, chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Celebration. “None of that is designed to encourage confidence.”
As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s workplace tried to dispel misinformation about California’s poll tabulation course of, the assertion additionally stated, “For the document: we want the votes had been counted quicker, too.”
Not solely would a speedier election depend enhance voter belief, which may usually enhance participation, Alexander stated, it could additionally lower harassment of election employees and assist newly elected candidates step into their new roles quicker — and remove a protracted limbo interval for the dropping candidate.
“We will get it proper and do it quicker, and we should always,” Alexander stated.
A 2023 regulation allowed counties to offer voters a chance to forged their vote-by-mail poll as an in-person poll, by submitting it sans envelope and signing for it at a vote heart, which reduces the verification course of required by election employees. About half of California counties have adopted some possibility of this expedited course of, based on the California Voter Basis, some calling it “Signal, scan and go!” or the “bare poll” possibility, however extra widespread implementation of this might assist velocity up the depend, Alexander stated. Los Angeles County, which processes extra ballots than many states, has not but carried out this time-saving possibility.
California additionally permits ballots, if postmarked by election day, to be accepted as much as per week after polls shut — although that coverage could quickly be compelled to alter relying how the Supreme Court docket guidelines on a case difficult ballots arriving after election day. Nonetheless, these late-arriving ballots don’t account for a big share of the delays in California: in 2024, solely about 2.5% of all ballots arrived within the mail after election day.
However some election observers level out that even in comparison with states with equally run elections, California nonetheless lags behind.
“California merely counts the ballots it has too slowly and its elections places of work are underfunded,” election analysts Eli McKown-Dawson and Nate Silver just lately wrote in a Substack piece. “If you’d like folks to be assured in your electoral system, a very good first step is to construct one which works correctly.”
And whereas seven different states additionally robotically mail voters ballots, consultants say it’s exhausting to make direct comparisons with California. Some critics usually level to Colorado for instance of a state with equally ubiquitous mail-in voting, but a a lot quicker depend than California. However the scale of states’ elections are so completely different: In 2024, California processed about 13 million vote-by-mail ballots; not even 3 million had been counted in Colorado.
Some have additionally identified that regardless of all of the methods California has labored to develop voter accessibility, turnout hasn’t dramatically modified. California stays comparatively in the midst of the pack in terms of voter turnout throughout the U.S., and whereas the state has seen some spikes in turnout throughout sure election years, there’s been no noticeable uptick over the past 15 years, based on a evaluate of knowledge from 2008 to 2024.
However Becker contended that there are a lot of components that may affect voter turnout, particularly, California’s sturdy blue tilt.
“Perceived competitiveness” — or lack thereof — usually retains voters from the polls, as can uninspiring campaigns and even the climate, Becker stated, however he was adamant that shouldn’t be a cause to make it more durable for folks to vote.
“Accessibility is at all times value it,” Becker stated.
Hoge, the GOP chair, had a distinct take, highlighting issues concerning the voter registration course of in addition to the sluggish depend — although she has been clear that the latter doesn’t essentially sign fraud.
She has continued to push a extra tempered narrative to many Republican leaders, together with from the White Home. On X, she shared a publish that fact-checked a photograph of vote tabulations from L.A. County, which appeared to — erroneously — present actuality TV character Spencer Pratt receiving no new votes in a day by day vote depend. And she or he boosted a video that dispelled rumors about Democrats stealing votes and ones about widespread fraud in California’s course of.
“It’s a horrible curler coaster,” Hoge stated about California’s election outcomes. “It doesn’t make sense, and the truth that you’re simply noticing it at present doesn’t imply that it’s newly not making sense. … However till we win, we will’t change it.”
It doesn’t matter what California would possibly change or enhance, Becker stated he’s assured it gained’t cease the criticism or campaigns of misinformation. He additionally stated that the majority elections in California are referred to as comparatively rapidly — take the state’s decide for president, which is normally confirmed on election evening — but it surely’s a small share of extraordinarily tight races that take longer, as a result of they require a extra full depend to name a winner.
“It doesn’t matter how briskly California counts its ballots, … we’d be seeing comparable conspiracy theories, perhaps simply with a distinct framing,” Becker stated. “California finally ends up being a really efficient bogeyman.”
Workers author Kevin Rector contributed to this report.
