The New York Times editorial board published an unusually direct opinion: California’s habit of taking a week or more to count its ballots is, in their words, “a failure of governance” and an exercise in “voluntary ineptitude” that damages faith in elections. Three days after the June 2 primary, the state had still failed to report 40% of ballots. By Wednesday, almost a week out, 15% remained uncounted and several races undecided.
The editorial board names the structural causes: a 2015 rule change accepting mail ballots up to seven days after Election Day, a “burdensome process for confirming voters’ signatures,” and local jurisdictions that simply stopped reporting results over the weekend with large piles of uncounted ballots remaining. Texas, Florida, Michigan, Virginia, and most democracies abroad finish counting promptly. California once did.
