California Hopes to Speed Up Election Results With $40 Million Infusion
An infusion of money could help accelerate California’s notoriously slow process for counting votes in time for the November election.Gov.Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers agreed to spend an additional $40 million toward producing election results faster as part of the annual state budget they are approving this week.
The funding includes $29 million for more county elections staff and equipment upgrades, and $10 million for a publicity campaign to inform voters that returning their ballots before Election Day can speed up the count.But don’t expect results in close races to be reported on election night, Nov.3.
A vast majority of California voters use mail ballots, which are labor intensive to process and will still challenge even the best equipped county offices.The state also counts ballots that arrive within seven days as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, an approach that was upheld Monday by the Supreme Court despite a push by the Trump administration to invalidate a Mississippi law similar to the one in California.Still, experts said, the new funding should help California determine results within five days of the election.
In this month’s primary election, it took six days to determine the results of the Los Angeles mayor’s race and seven to call the governor’s race.In 2024, it took three weeks to determine the winner in California’s closest House races.California’s slow counting process has made the state the target of criticism across the nation and vulnerable to unfounded accusations that fraudulent ballots are being added late to change an election’s outcome.Democratic politicians in California have said the state’s process is designed to encourage maximum voter participation and an accurate count, but they acknowledge that the slow pace allows disinformation to fester.
As part of the budget increase, the state will spend $750,000 to combat misinformation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Plea...