California Vote Count Draws Trump Criticism

RIVERSIDE (CNS) - Southern California voters awaiting final returns
from Tuesday's primary election should expect vote totals to continue changing
for several weeks as counties count outstanding ballots, California Secretary
of State Shirley Weber said Thursday amid allegations by President Donald Trump of
election cheating.
  

Weber noted that while Election Day has passed, California law allows
county elections officials up to 30 days to complete the official canvass and
process eligible ballots that remain outstanding.
  

``Accuracy comes before speed,'' Weber said in a statement.
``California is the nation's largest voting state, with millions of ballots to
process and count. Taking the time to do this work correctly protects voters'
rights and ensures the integrity of our elections.''
  

Under Assembly Bill 5, which took effect this year, counties are
required to count and report most ballots by June 15. Certain ballot types are
exempt from that deadline, including provisional ballots, conditional voter
registration ballots, signature cure ballots, ballots requiring duplication,
ballots forwarded from other counties and some late-arriving vote-by-mail
ballots, according to Weber.
  

Election officials said results are expected to change throughout the
canvass period as additional vote-by-mail, provisional and other ballots are
processed and added to the totals.
  

The frequency of updated election results will vary by county
depending on the number of ballots remaining and the procedures used by local
elections offices to tally and report votes, officials said.
  

Weber's reminder came after Trump alleged on social media that
Democrats were attempting to influence the outcome of California primary races
through the counting of vote-by-mail ballots. Trump claimed without providing
evidence that there was ``BIG cheating'' in California and suggested the matter
was under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.
  

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: ``The Dumocrats are at it
again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE
MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here
we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.''
  

The U.S. Attorney's Office did not publicly confirm any such investigation.
  

Gov. Gavin Newsom responded on X, writing, ``Trump is lying about
California again -- time to take the phone away from grandpa and put him to
sleep.''
  

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton criticized the pace of
California's vote count and announced plans to propose what he called an
Emergency Election Support Corps to help counties accelerate ballot processing.
  

``California's election system has become another monument to
government incompetence,'' Hilton said in a statement Thursday. ``We are the
fourth-largest economy in the world, yet somehow we can't tell people who won
an election without making them wait a month. It's insane. Every election
brings the same excuses, the same delays, and the same collapse in public
confidence. Californians deserve better.''
  

Hilton said he would call on Newsom to deploy available state
employees and additional resources to counties facing ballot-processing delays
while maintaining existing election laws, security procedures and vote-counting
standards.
  

Hilton is scheduled to outline the proposal during a news conference
Friday morning at the San Mateo County Registrar of Voters office in San Mateo.
  

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump reiterated
his claims, asserting that California election officials had ``found a lot
of mail-in ballots last night, shockingly.''
  

State election officials have repeatedly noted that California law
allows vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they
arrive within the prescribed deadline and that election results routinely
change during the canvass period as ballots are processed.
  

County elections officials must submit their final results to the
Secretary of State by July 3. The Secretary of State is scheduled to certify
the election results by July 10.
  

State officials encouraged voters seeking additional information about
the vote-counting process to visit the Secretary of State's website at
https://dp.electionresults.sos.ca.gov/frequently-asked-questions.
  

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