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By Laura Meckler and Andrew Jeong / Washington Post / November 9, 2024
For most of the country, predictions that Election Day would morph into election week or election month did not come to pass.
Then there’s California, where millions of ballots remain uncounted.
The most populous state in the union has one of the longest vote-counting processes. That’s partly because California has so many ballots to count and partly because the state makes it easy for its citizens to vote, which means election officials have to work harder to certify that ballots are valid.
The result is — it may take a while for results. As of midday Saturday, 10 House races in California had yet to be called, with control of the House on the line. Also uncalled were a few closely fought ballot initiatives, including one that would gradually raise the minimum wage to $18 per hour.
As of Saturday, there were nearly 5 million uncounted ballots, including more than 950,000 in Los Angeles County alone. County officials have 30 days to count their ballots and report them to the secretary of state, which then certifies the results.
Other large states, including New York, Texas and Florida, all typically count the vast majority of their ballots on the night of the election. As of Saturday, those three had each reported counting 97 percent or more of votes cast. Pennsylvania, the country’s fifth most populous state, typically takes longer to count votes, but it had reported 98.5 percent of the vote by Saturday.
California isn’t the only state still counting ballots and awaiting election calls in consequential congressional races. In Arizona, voters were waiting Saturday to see who would win a handful of House races and its Senate contest, with an estimated 82.7 percent of the vote counted.
A range of factors help explain California’s lengthy, long, extended and time-consuming vote process:
Sheer numbers: California has more than 22 million registered voters. That’s more people than the total population of 47 other states.
Mail-in ballots: Since 2020, California has mailed ballots to every registered voter’s home, and as a result, the vast majority of Californians vote by mail. In 2022, about 91 percent of votes cast in the state’s primaries and general election were mailed, and in the 2024 primaries, about 89 percent were, state figures show. Ballots must be counted even if they arrive up to seven days later, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day — so, many states have finished counting before California officials even have all the ballots in hand. Signatures on mail ballots must be verified, and if they don’t match the signatures on file, county election officials are obliged to try to contact those voters to verify their signatures.
Provisional votes: Voters whose registration can’t be immediately confirmed on Election Day are given provisional ballots, which are typically counted after Election Day. California is among a handful of states that account for most of the provisional votes cast nationally, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Same-day voter registration: California is one of 23 states (plus the District of Columbia) that allow same-day voter registration, meaning residents can register on the spot at polling places and vote. If poll workers cannot confirm they are eligible, they receive a provisional vote, which will be counted only after eligibility has been confirmed.
All of these rules stem from the state’s desire to make voting easier, and election experts say the provisions — and the slow counting that results — are a sign of a healthy democratic process.
“We want a lot of people to vote and want to make it fairly easy for them to do so,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor and expert in election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “As a result, we have sacrificed speed.”
Only one reason for it to take this long and that is fraud. Fl is a heavy populated state, but had all the ballots counted by 10 pm election day. These states that take a week or more to count destroy the integrity of our elections, enough is enough.
Bob, did you bother to even read the article on why it takes so long in California? Take your false claims of “fraud” out of here.
If the signature does not match for mail-in ballots contacting the voter and giving them a second chance is asking for fraud. It affects the local races more than the federal and state elections in my opinion.
There are other ways that make it easy as well. It overloads the system but as I said before local races are where the problem lies.
Bob,
Take the tin foil hat off and stop spreading conspiracies. You do know USPS isn’t fast? Do you also know how large of a number 20 million is?
These things take time. It’s already been proven mass spread voter fraud doesnt exist. What would California have to gain when they’re normally 65-70% democrat so their electoral votes are already called. Californias complete vote count doesn’t change anything. Trump still won, and you’re still screaming fraud?!
It affects local races but it is there.
I read the article and there is still no excuse for it to take this long. Sure, Cali is the biggest state and it will take longer than most to count every vote, but still a third of votes (5 million) not counted five or six days later? I can understand a few hundred thousand provisional ballots or so, but still 5 million?!!!!! US congress needs to pass law and force Cali to count faster. Invites people like Bob to lose faith in election results. Ridiculous.
At the vote center I worked at, on election day over 1/6 of the ballots were new voters. Do you not want their information to be checked against other databases? Many of them had registered, but did so after the deadline. There was also one couple changed address to one on a street that is listed by the ROV as commercial rather than residential. So the address needs confirmation. It’s going to take time. The needed time should keep the faith in the results, not destroy it.
I suggest that you become part of the process as a temp worker (night and weekend hours only are available) rather than just critiquing it. However, you need to be willing to follow procedures as specified, rather than rail against them without any facts.
And remember, the votes don’t even need to be received until today if voting by mail, as long as they were postmarked a week ago. Some races are very close and races can’t be called until they know how many people voted.
The problem with California is that they send everyone a mail ballot. Nevada does too, but people there voted in person at a 60% rate. They had a winner the day after election day. In Florida, half the people vote by mail, and yet they have results on election night. In Texas, 95% vote in person and they had election night results. Get rid of mail balloting once and for all and have everyone vote in person. Exceptions would be for those with health issues, being out of town on election day. If California had 2 week in-person early voting and did not allow ballots to be dropped off on election day and ended same-day registration, they could have results on election night. Why do large countries like India and Brazil have results on election night yet California does not.
The problem with some other states is that they don’t send everyone a mail ballot. People (including those over age 65) stand in line for hours to vote. Not everyone can spare that much time, given multiple jobs and caregiving responsibilities. Unfortunately, even those without those responsibilities can’t be bothered. Then we don’t have a democracy left. Given that 90% of Californians use the mail-in system, I’d hate to see the line on election day if a large portion of them were voting in person. Yes, most people wait until election day.