Josh Gohlke is an independent journalist based in Sacramento. He was previously an opinion writer and editor for the Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and San Francisco Chronicle. This piece originally appeared on his Substack, Laughing Leads to Crying.
Another closely watched California election means another round of bellyaching over the speed with which the state gratifies everyone’s desire to know the results. Even before the polls had closed Tuesday, the state’s “sluggish” process was being derided as “extremely embarrassing” “failed-state shit” that “erodes” confidence in elections and “could throw the nation into disarray.” Oh, my God!
This is 99 percent nonsense.
What unites all these criticisms is the critics’ failure to convincingly explain why we can’t or shouldn’t wait a few days for the results. Elections are not typically certified until several weeks after the voting, and nearly all of the officials elected won’t begin their new terms until January. California’s count has never come close to delaying either eventuality.
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Most of the detractors turn out to be Republicans advancing Donald Trump’s antidemocratic project by promoting doubt about elections generally and those they are likely to lose specifically; Democrats and independents who are afraid Republicans will do so; and attention-span-challenged pundits and journalists who want to know the results because, well, they just want to know them right now!
Granted, California has plenty of understaffed or overindulged bureaucracies that can and should be improved, and some county elections offices are no exception. The state government, Los Angeles County and other localities have made some needed efforts to improve efficiency and prevent unnecessary delays in vote processing that have already helped.
That being said, California takes time to count votes for mostly good reasons. And most of the attacks on the process stem from motivations that are at best frivolous and at worst malicious.
Mariel Garza
To begin with, California is a truly vast “nation-state,” as our outgoing governor is fond of putting it, the most populous in the union and the third-largest. Los Angeles County, with about a quarter of California’s population, contains more Americans than 40 of the 50 states.
More important, most of the rules and procedures that prolong California’s count also serve to maximize access and accuracy, both of which are generally desirable in, you know, a democracy.
Starting during the pandemic for the sake of public health (another unfashionable notion at the federal level), California became the largest by far of only eight states that conduct their elections mostly by mail, and it counts ballots as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day and arrive within a week. Officials also take pains to verify voters’ signatures and audit a portion of the ballots.
If voters are deciding among many candidates and the contests are competitive, as this year’s gubernatorial race is — more evidence of that whole democracy thing — they may mail their ballots later, extending the count. On the other hand, the mail might be more efficient if the U.S. Postal Service weren’t within the purview of America’s foremost opponent of mail-in voting — except, of course, when he does it — Trump.
Paul Thornton
In addition, the state allows voters to register as late as Election Day, cast provisional ballots and correct missing or questionable signatures. These steps generally affect a small portion of ballots and are unlikely to delay results for all but the closest races, but they are likewise designed to ensure greater participation and careful tabulation rather than instant gratification.
Much of the disingenuous campaign against the state’s elections has emanated from the likes of California Rep. Kevin Kiley. Before the Sacramento area congressman abandoned his long-standing Republican affiliation and began furiously tacking left in a desperate effort to save his job, he was endorsed by our election denier in chief and refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election. His self-appointed punditry on the subject of election integrity is about as ironic as his political endangerment due to the midterm redistricting Trump provoked.
What’s especially troubling about such disingenuous criticisms is that Democratic officials and independent observers have begun to adopt them. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently warned election officials to count quickly with the goal of “preventing election lies from taking hold,” while one advocacy group worried that slow tallies are an “invitation to false claims about the reliability of the voting process even though we have the most accessible, secure and verifiable election system in the country.”
Instead of preemptively answering the bad-faith arguments of fascists, perhaps proponents of democracy should stand up for California and other robust examples thereof. The problem isn’t counting the votes; it’s those who would rather not.
