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California vote count drags
California’s primary results remained unsettled as the state continued counting ballots from its June 2 election, with election law expert Hans von Spakovsky telling Fox News Digital that “There are four reasons why California takes so long.”
“Why it takes days or even weeks for California to count votes It allows mail-in votes that arrive a week after voting ends to be counted”
Von Spakovsky said the process can keep ballots moving through verification and counting for days and even weeks after Election Day, and he pointed to a seven-day post-Election Day ballot receipt window and a 22-day cure period for signature issues.
USA Today reported that federal prosecutors opened multiple election fraud investigations in Los Angeles on June 5, with Bill Essayli saying his office would “conduct a comprehensive audit of California’s voter rolls.”
Action News Now said the Secretary of State’s Office reported that as of Thursday night, 39% of ballots remained to be counted, with more than 5.6 million processed and 3.6 million still to be counted.
NBC Los Angeles said the race for Los Angeles mayor remained too close to call, with updated results Friday morning showing Spencer Pratt at 29.4% and Nithya Raman at 23.4%, while Karen Bass led with 35.1%.
Trump, Newsom trade blows
President Donald Trump complained about the pace of the count and alleged fraud, posting “Why the vote counting DELAY???” and telling reporters during an Oval Office gathering Thursday, “You see what's happening in California, they're rigging the election.”
NBC Los Angeles reported that California Secretary of State Shirley Weber reminded voters that “Accuracy comes before speed,” and said California law allows county elections officials up to 30 days to complete the official canvass and process eligible ballots.
USA Today said federal scrutiny followed Trump’s claim without evidence that Democrats were trying to “steal” two top races, including the Los Angeles mayoral election, and it noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office responded on X that there was “a lot of misinformation floating around about California’s election — including from the President.”
Fox 11 Los Angeles reported that Trump also wrote on Truth Social, “There's BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California,” as Los Angeles County continued processing an estimated 713,180 ballots still outstanding as of Thursday morning.
The Center Square said the Secretary of State’s Office told it the count would go on for another 36 days, quoting Secretary of State Shirley Weber: “Accuracy comes before speed. California is the nation’s largest voting state, with millions of ballots to process and count.”
What’s at stake next
With millions of ballots still uncounted, the outcome of California’s governor primary and the Los Angeles mayoral primary remained in flux, and NBC Los Angeles said final results were not expected for several weeks as counties continued processing vote-by-mail, provisional and other outstanding ballots.
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USA Today reported that Hilton held a narrow lead over Becerra with updated returns as of 11:42 a.m. on June 5 showing about 27.2% to 26%, while Tom Steyer trailed at around 20.2%, as counties continued to tally millions of outstanding ballots.
Fox 11 Los Angeles said Los Angeles County’s centralized Ballot Processing Center in the City of Industry was verifying signatures, processing vote-by-mail ballots, and tabulating results, with officials estimating 713,180 ballots still outstanding including approximately 700,000 vote-by-mail ballots.
ABC News said county election officials have up to 30 days after the election to count ballots and that final results must be reported to the secretary of state by July 3, 2026, while also quoting Secretary of State Shirley Weber that “On Election Night, we will have a good picture of the outcome of most contests, but it will take weeks to know the final results.”
KTVU said state election officials were expected to learn on Thursday how many votes still needed to be counted and how long the process could take, and it quoted Melissa Michelson saying, “Most likely it is going to be Hilton and Becerra,” while adding that “It is entirely possible we get a surprise as we get more of these ballots counted.”
