Days after California's primary, voters in the nation's most populous state are waiting to learn which candidates will advance to the general election in high-profile races for governor and Los Angeles mayor. The delay is not unusual: California routinely takes days or even weeks to fully tally results because of state law that prioritizes counting every eligible ballot over speed.

California mails ballots to roughly 23 million eligible voters, and they will be counted if postmarked by Election Day and arrive at election offices within seven days. Only after polls close can local workers begin verifying late-arriving mail ballots and tabulating them. If a voter's signature on the envelope doesn't match records, officials must give that voter a chance to prove their identity before the ballot counts.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation requiring vote counts to be completed within 13 days instead of the previous 30. Counties can seek extensions by informing the Secretary of State's Office of a reason for delay.

President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized California's pace and alleged fraud, saying Democrats were cheating so Republican Steve Hilton in the governor's race and Spencer Pratt in the mayor's race would be bumped from top two slots and ineligible for November. "You see what's happening in California, they're rigging the election," Trump told reporters during an Oval Office gathering.

Trump announced his Department of Justice was investigating the count, posting on social media: "Why the vote counting DELAY???" He also wrote: "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."

What the Right Is Saying

Trump's posts alleged without evidence that California's Democrats were manipulating results to block preferred Republican candidates from advancing. The president has repeatedly criticized vote counts in Democratic-leaning states, often claiming fraud when results don't align with expectations or take time to finalize.

The Republican National Committee has filed lawsuits in other states challenging the legality of counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on such issues this month.

Stephen Richer, a former Republican election official in Maricopa County, Arizona, acknowledged California's slow count frustrates many observers but argued that frustration does not equal fraud. "We might not like how California administers its elections (and I don't)," Richer wrote on X. "But that doesn't make it fraud."

Republicans have long complained about California's ballot counting process, citing the delay between Election Day and final results as evidence of potential manipulation, despite no documented cases of systematic fraud in the state's elections.

What the Left Is Saying

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office responded by posting a clip of a CNN video explaining how California prioritizes accuracy and accessibility over speed in counting ballots. "For the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too," Newsom's office posted.

State Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat who authored the bill to accelerate ballot counting from 30 days to 13, called Trump's comments disappointing and false. "While Trump is laser focused on lying about our elections and undermining voters' faith in our democracy, so that Republicans can then try to pass policies like Voter ID laws that make it harder for people to vote, our priority is to make sure that every validly cast ballot is counted," Berman said in a statement.

UCLA law professor Rick Hasen noted that Democrats appeared to have waited until the end of the primary season to send in their ballots, apparently trying to gauge which candidates were emerging as favorites before committing. California uses a top-two primary system where the two highest vote-getters regardless of party advance to the general election, and Democrats had worried for months that having many Democratic candidates would splinter votes enough to let two Republicans claim the top spots.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles declined to comment on whether it was investigating the ballot counting.

What the Numbers Show

California has approximately 23 million eligible voters who receive ballots by mail. Under state law, those ballots are counted if postmarked by Election Day and arrive within seven days after the election.

A 2025 law signed by Newsom requires counties to complete vote counts within 13 days of an election, down from the previous 30-day window. Counties can seek extensions for documented reasons.

Despite being an overwhelmingly Democratic state, California has featured some of the nation's closest congressional elections, sometimes decided by just a few hundred votes. In 2024, one House race in California wasn't called until December.

A notable pattern: as mail ballots are tallied last, the final vote incrementally shifts more Democratic. This occurs because Republicans are more likely to return ballots early or vote in person on Election Day, while Democrats historically wait longer to cast mail ballots. The gradual shift has generated conspiracy theories despite having an established procedural explanation.

The Bottom Line

Trump's allegations of fraud in California's ballot count come as the state follows laws enacted by its own Democratic-controlled legislature and signed by Newsom. Those laws prioritize inclusive counting over speed, a tradeoff that election experts say is intentional rather than evidence of manipulation.

The DOJ investigation announcement could signal increased federal scrutiny of state election procedures, though no official inquiry has been confirmed. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles declined to comment.

Voting advocates across the political spectrum have urged California lawmakers to increase funding for local election offices so they can process late-arriving ballots faster. Hasen said: "The Legislature needs to throw a lot more money to get the count quicker."

What happens next: With millions of ballots still being processed, close races in California may not be decided for weeks. The outcome could determine whether Trump-aligned Republicans like Hilton and Pratt qualify for November matchups against Democrats in statewide races.