President Trump has initiated an investigation regarding the slow vote counting in California, alleging that Democrats are attempting to “steal” the gubernatorial and mayoral primaries in the state.
On Thursday, Trump expressed his frustration over the prolonged vote tallying process since the polls closed, suggesting that election results might not be available for weeks due to the backlog of mail-in ballots that need to be processed.
“Democrats are at it again,” he stated. He accused them of attempting to undermine the two leading Republican candidates in both contests by delaying the results, particularly pointing out that many mail-in ballots were submitted close to the deadline.
Although Trump announced the investigation into the voting delay, it remains unclear who precisely launched this inquiry.
In another statement, Trump claimed, “There was massive fraud by Democrats in California. All votes are deadlocked. You might not be able to vote for several weeks.” He noted that the investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, raising questions about the vote counting delays.
It’s common for California’s vote counting to extend past Election Day, given the necessity for signature verification, processing millions of mail-in ballots, and performing audits before results can be certified.
State law permits election officials to finalize official election forms up to 30 days post-election, ensuring all valid ballots are counted and conducting the required post-election checks for accuracy.
Votes started coming in shortly after polls closed on Tuesday, but these results may still fluctuate as more ballots are processed.
Initially counted ballots include early in-person and mail-in votes from the early voting period.
Since California allows mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and received later, the conclusion of closely contested races may take days or even weeks.
Currently, only 56% of votes have been counted statewide, with Steve Hilton, a former aide to ex-Prime Minister David Cameron, in the lead.
The top two candidates will move forward to the general election, regardless of party affiliation, competing in November.
Hilton has garnered 27.6% of the vote, just ahead of Democrat Xavier Becerra by a couple of percentage points.
In third place is billionaire Tom Steyer, despite spending $215 million of his own funds on the race.
Hilton, who has Trump’s backing and aims to become the first Republican governor of California in 15 years, suggests the state has strayed under Democratic leadership.
However, if he advances to the general election, he will face a tough challenge, as registered Democrats constitute 45% of voters, compared to 25% for Republicans.
Meanwhile, Spencer Pratt, a former reality TV star, is awaiting information on his potential candidacy for Los Angeles mayor in the upcoming November election. Incumbent Karen Bass has secured a spot on the ballot for the runoff, while Pratt currently holds second place with 29.9% of the vote.
He has a slight edge over Nitya Raman from the Progressive Democratic Party, who has garnered 22.8%.
Raman, a far-left candidate, delivered an emotional speech on Tuesday but could still qualify for the runoff if a significant number of progressive mail-in ballots come in for her.
“Don’t count out Nithya Raman just yet,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, director of UCLA Luskin’s Los Angeles Initiative.
Trump’s opposition to mail-in voting is well-known. Last August, he stated, “Elections are never honest with mail-in voting.”
He has expressed his intent to lead a movement to eliminate mail-in voting, arguing ahead of the 2020 elections that “Universal mail-in voting” would result in the most “inaccurate and fraudulent election” in history.
