California Assembly Republican Caucus
Editorial boards across the political spectrum are questioning why California continues to take days and sometimes weeks to produce election results.
SACRAMENTO — California’s slow vote count is drawing criticism from some of the nation’s most influential news organizations that rarely agree on much else. Recent editorials in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal all question how long the state takes to produce election results.
These papers rarely agree on anything. Yet each one has now pointed to California’s drawn-out counting process and the toll it takes on public confidence in elections and in government competence.
The criticism isn’t coming only from editorial boards. Elections analyst Nate Silver became a national figure after accurately forecasting the 2008 presidential election. He didn’t hold back. Taking several weeks to tell voters who won an election, he wrote, is “failed state sh*t and should be much more stigmatized.”
California is home to nearly 40 million people and one of the world’s largest economies. Yet election after election, it remains one of the last states in the country to finish counting and certify its results.
Election officials say their first priority is counting every legal vote accurately. Yet observers across the country keep asking the same question: why does California’s process take so much longer than other states?
Governor Gavin Newsom often promotes California as a model for the nation. As attention turns to the state’s election system, the slow vote count is becoming part of a broader conversation about whether California can still deliver the basic functions of government efficiently. The growing criticism crosses party lines. California leads the world in technology and innovation, yet election after election it remains among the last states in the nation to finish counting votes. For a state that prides itself on setting the standard, that question is becoming harder to answer.
