News

California has a new Legislature — while votes are still being counted

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Today, a newly-elected class of state lawmakers was sworn into office — before their election results are certified. And in one competitive Assembly district, a leading candidate took office even though her race is still not called.

This is the reality under California’s notoriously slow ballot counting process — a process that one state lawmaker is vowing to change.

Close Count Update #7: CD 13 lead flips as ballot curing deadline approaches

Hi Folks,

We are now three weeks past Election Day and two California U.S. House races along with one state legislative contest remain too close to call. We've created some charts below showing how CD 13 and CD 45 results have tightened and changed since Election Night to help illustrate how incredibly close these two contests are. 

Why California still has thousands of ballots to be processed three weeks after the election

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Some critics say the state’s slow vote counting process leads to distrust, while supporters say there are several laws that county officials need to follow to make sure every vote counts.

“The key difference is that a lot of these places that people compare us to have just a one-day option to vote, where we have multiple days which is an advantage that others don’t have,” said Yolo County Registrar Jesse Salinas.

California is one of eight states that mails a ballot to every eligible voter.

India counted in 1 day, California still counting: Elon Musk takes jibe at US Election efficiency

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Elon Musk: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk praised India's election process, particularly the speed with which ballots were counted. Musk took to social networking platform X to share a message about India's Lok Sabha elections, where 640 million ballots were tallied within 24 hours.

He shared a post on X that reads, "India counted 640 million votes in a single day. California is still counting 15 million votes... 18 days later." Musk responded to this with, "Tragic."

Why is the race for California’s 45th congressional district so close?

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Created four years ago to solidify the political clout of Little Saigon’s Vietnamese American community, California’s 45th congressional district has become one of the nation’s most narrowly contested House seats.

And with votes still being counted in a race that’s still too close to call, experts say the presence of a Vietnamese American on the general election ballot — a first for CA-45 — is a possible tipping point in a contest that could come down to a handful of votes.

‘Why do we need to rush?’ California’s Lake County may have the nation’s slowest elections department

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Every election, the prickly Lake County registrar follows California’s litany of voting laws and certifies thousands of ballots by the time she is required to. And every year, people still complain.

“The state gave us a deadline; we meet the deadline,” an exasperated Valadez said from her small office in Lakeport as several staffers sat at computers verifying signatures more than two weeks after election day, when they had tallied fewer than half of the votes. “I just don’t understand— why do we need to rush?” 

Christine Pelosi is part of a small army of ballot ‘curers’ in wildly close California House race

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Christine Pelosi is one of many Bay Area volunteers who have headed to the Central Valley to “cure” ballots in an incredibly tight House race. On Wednesday afternoon, after a few days of volunteering in the Merced area, she was “staking out” a Modesto home with a colleague, hoping to connect with a voter whose ballot was rejected over a signature problem, she told the Chronicle.

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