Trump Accuses Democrats of Cheating Over California’s Slow June 2 Vote Count

Donald Trump used California’s slow vote count after the June 2 primary to accuse Democrats of “cheating,” posting that “They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES,” he wrote on his social media site.

“The last week has brought the largest resurgence of election denialism since the aftermath of the 2020 election”

CNN

WhoWhatWhy said California’s process is slow in part because “even ballots arriving a week after Election Day will be counted as long as the postmark shows that they were sent on time — in this case, on or before June 2.”

CNN

As of Sunday morning, WhoWhatWhy reported that “nearly 30 percent of votes castin the gubernatorial primary had yet to be counted,” with new batches still “trickling in.”

New York Magazine described how the initial results of the June 2 primary “were bound to look good for the Golden State’s embattled minority Republicans,” before later-cast mail ballots shifted the standings.

In the Los Angeles mayoral race, New York Magazine said a weekend vote update showed Nithya Raman passing Spencer Pratt and moving into second place behind Karen Bass.

CNN said the “largest resurgence of election denialism” followed California’s June 2 primary, with many on the right pointing to late shifts toward Democrats in results.

CNN argued that theories about voter fraud “don’t withstand scrutiny,” and it described how Spencer Pratt’s lead over Nithya Raman “gradually get whittled away” as more votes rolled in.

New York Magazine

New York Magazine said Trump kept up the drumbeat, including a Truth Social post on Sunday, June 7, that began: “Has anybody been watching the CROOKED Election going on in California.”

CNN also said the “red mirage” effect is amplified in California because of its extensive use of mail ballots and how long it takes to count them.

In that framing, CNN pointed to an MIT analysis that found “Joe Biden counties — often urban ones with lots of votes — tended to count and report more slowly than Trump counties.”

WhoWhatWhy said California’s vote-counting rules include signature verification, and it described that if there is a discrepancy “the respective voter is notified and given an opportunity to confirm that the ballot is theirs.”

“Donald Trump will use any opportunity to undermine democracy and the integrity of US elections”

WhoWhatWhy

It also noted that “all 23 million Californians who are registered to vote automatically receive a mail-in ballot,” a factor WhoWhatWhy said contributes to the long process of counting.

In New York Magazine’s account, the June 2 results were expected to move both Steve Hilton and Spencer Pratt toward the November general election under California’s “top-two nonpartisan primary system,” before later mail ballots changed the picture.

CNN reported that after the week of debate, Raman had beaten Pratt for the second slot against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in what’s “officially a nonpartisan race,” while Hilton continued to hold off Democrat Tom Steyer for second place in the governor’s race.

Against that backdrop, WhoWhatWhy said Trump posted that California is “under investigation” by the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles, using the slow count as a basis for continued claims about election integrity.