Why counting votes in California takes long here is what to expect

When elections happen in the United States, winners are often projected on election night or by the next morning.That is not always the case in California.Voters across the state cast ballots on June 2 in several high-profile races, including the contest to replace term-limited Gov.Gavin Newsom and the race for mayor of Los Angeles.

Yet days later, some contests remain too close to call.In the governor’s race, Republican Steve Hilton leads with 27.2 percent of the vote, followed by Democrat Xavier Becerra at 26 percent and billionaire activist Tom Steyer at 20.2 percent, according to Thursday returns.In the Los Angeles mayor’s race, Karen Bass leads with nearly 35 percent of the vote, followed by Spencer Pratt with about 29 percent and Nithya Raman with roughly 23 percent.According to election experts, the delay is less about malfunction and more about how California has designed its voting system.“There’s no other state that has nearly the expansive voting engagement as California does,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican consultant who has worked on numerous campaigns.

“California has many ways that people can vote and fewer restrictions, but the other part is also just basically the size of the state and the number of people that participate.”California allows voting by mail, in person at vote centers, through secure drop boxes and by provisional ballot.Election officials can process many mailed ballots before Election Day — verifying signatures and preparing envelopes for tabulation — but they cannot count the votes until polls close.Pollster Paul Mitchell said the system prioritizes access over speed.“It’s basically trying to make sure that you can vote any way you want to,” Mitchell said.

“You can vote by mail, you can go to a polling place and use a machine, you can go to a drop box.”California also accepts ballots that arrive after Election Day as long as they were postmarked on time.Voters have up to 14 days to cure certain signa...