California's "leisurely" ballot counting process is facing backlash from The New York Times editorial board, which ripped Democrats for defending the "indefensible" in a piece published Wednesday."This slowness is a failure of governance, and it should help inspire the creation of a better system," the editorial board wrote."There is no good reason that California takes so long to count votes.
Most democracies around the world count votes quickly.So do most other large U.S.
states, including Texas, Florida, Michigan and Virginia."California's primary occurred on June 2 and the state is still counting ballots."California’s leisurely approach to vote counting is a recent phenomenon.Before 2015, the state required that mail-in ballots arrive by Election Day.
It now allows them to arrive seven days later so long as they are postmarked by Election Day.The state also uses a burdensome process for confirming voters’ signatures.
Lawmakers say they are prioritizing accuracy and access, but states that tabulate results quickly have elections that are neither less accurate nor less accessible than California’s," the editorial noted.CALIFORNIA ELECTION LIMBO FUELED BY 4 PRESSURE POINTS DRAGGING OUT VOTE COUNT, EXPERT SAYSAn official ballot drop box is set up outside City Hall in San Francisco, California, during early voting for the California primary election on May 26, 2026.(Jason Henry/Bloomberg via Getty Images)The Times called out the many excuses for slow counting, and said none were persuasive.They called for a national law to establish Election Day as the final day to accept mail-in ballots.The editorial board also argued that Congress should push states to count all ballots on Election Day."In the case of vote counting, California Democrats are defending the indefensible.
The rapid counting of ballots was the norm for more than a century and remains the norm in other democratic countries.It is time for California to catch up to its own past," it wrote.Calif...