Newsom Addresses Trump’s Claims on California Election Process
California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed frustration from his office regarding President Donald Trump’s remarks about the state’s slow vote-counting procedures.
On Thursday, Trump accused Democrats of attempting to “steal” the primaries for California governor and Los Angeles mayor, promising an investigation into the voting delays.
In a post on Truth Social, the president claimed, “The Democrats are doing it again,” adding that there was a significant amount of mail-in voting that was processed late.
Trump continued, alleging, “There was massive fraud by Democrats in California. All votes are deadlocked. You may not be able to vote for several weeks.”
In response, Newsom’s press secretary stated that the president was “lying again about California,” acknowledging the desire to expedite ballot counting.
The post emphasized, “There’s a lot of misinformation out there about California’s elections, including from the president,” and shared a CNN video explaining the vote-counting process.
It concluded with, “And for the record, we too wish the votes were counted faster.”
In California, mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day can arrive days later, which prolongs the announcement of election results. This can be particularly significant in tightly contested races like the current gubernatorial election.
This situation plays into Trump’s longstanding opposition to mail-in voting, which he contends is more susceptible to fraud compared to in-person voting.
As the primary approaches, Newsom urged California counties to hasten vote counting to mitigate “misinformation and disinformation” surrounding the election.
He remarked, “Time is of the essence to prevent election lies from taking root,” in a letter directed to election officials across all 58 counties.
California’s extended vote counting timeline has often been criticized. Currently, the process adds anxiety to the closely watched gubernatorial race, where voters are eager to see if progressive candidate Tom Steyer will secure a position in the top two for the runoff.
Trump has shown a keen interest in this year’s California elections, backing Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral race and Republican Steve Hilton for governor, both of whom look likely to make it to the general election.
