{"id":2370330,"date":"2024-11-18T13:05:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/californias-slow-vote-count-leaves-critical-house-races-in-limbo-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-11-18T13:07:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:07:24","slug":"californias-slow-vote-count-leaves-critical-house-races-in-limbo-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/californias-slow-vote-count-leaves-critical-house-races-in-limbo-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"California&#8217;s slow vote count leaves critical House races in limbo &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcalifornias-slow-vote-count-leaves-critical-house-races-in-limbo-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2370330&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>California&#8217;s slow vote counting \u2063process following\u200c the November 5 election \u200bis leaving crucial\u2062 House races uncertain. Currently, only about 75% of votes have been counted in\u2064 the state, affecting the outcome of two competitive races: one between Democrat Derek\u2062 Tran and Republican Rep. \u200dMichelle Steel in the 45th Congressional District, and the other between Republican Rep. John Duarte and Democratic challenger \u2064Adam Gray in the 13th\u2062 District. The vote count in Tran&#8217;s race is particularly close, with both candidates \u2062at approximately 50% and only 9% of votes remaining. Similarly, Gray trails Duarte by just 1%, with 28,000 votes \u200cyet to be counted.<\/p>\n<p>The slow pace of counting is partly due to California&#8217;s policy of sending\u200d mail-in \u2062ballots to all residents to encourage\u200c participation, along with extended deadlines for ballot submission. This practice was solidified with a law \u200dpromoting\u200b permanent mail-in voting\u200b passed in 2021. State officials\u2062 emphasize \u200cthe importance of ensuring \u2062participation\u2063 over speed, although this has \u200cled to delays in counting votes compared to states \u2064with faster processes. \u2063The mail-in voting shift began in 2016, with widespread implementation\u200b in 2020, and \u2062the state has historically struggled with rapid counting in the aftermath of high turnout \u2063elections.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">California&rsquo;s slow vote count leaves critical House races in limbo<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1884235\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">California<\/a> has consistently been one of the slowest states to count its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">votes<\/a> after the Nov. 5 election. It&rsquo;s home to two extremely tight <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/house-of-representatives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">House races<\/a>, but only three-quarters of votes statewide have been counted thus far.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andrew Chen sorts ballots at San Francisco Department of Elections in City Hall in San Francisco on Nov. 6, 2024. (Scott Strazzante\/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The state will help determine just how slim of a majority Republicans will take in the House. The party has 218 members, but with the Democrats hanging behind by six seats, there&rsquo;s room for Republicans to expand their margins.<\/p>\n<p>The two races that have the potential to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">flip red seats blue<\/a> are between Democrat Derek Tran and Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) in Southern California&rsquo;s 45th Congressional District and Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) and Democratic challenger Adam Gray in Central California&rsquo;s 13th District.<\/p>\n<p>After trailing Steel for a majority of the vote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-elections\/california-us-house-district-45-results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">count<\/a>, Tran has evened out with Steel, bringing both candidates to 50% each with about 9% of the district&rsquo;s votes left to be counted. The count is close &mdash;&nbsp;Tran leads Steel by just 36 votes.<\/p>\n<p>Steel is leading Tran in the Orange County portion of the district, 50.8%-49.2%, but she is trailing Tran by about 13% in Los Angeles County, 56.3%-43.7%.<\/p>\n<p>In California&rsquo;s 13th District, Gray is 1 percentage point behind incumbent Duarte, who now sits with 50.6% of the vote. Only 2,000 votes are separating the two competitors, and about 28,000 votes are waiting to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-elections\/california-us-house-district-13-results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">counted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The counties of Fresno and Madera are pushing for Duarte by margins of over 11 points each, but Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties show Gray in the lead by 7 points or less.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the reason for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pennsylvanias-gop-senate-primary-too-close-to-call-as-counting-snafus-mount\/\" title=\"Pennsylvania\u2019s GOP Senate Primary Too Close To Call As Counting Snafus Mount\">slow counting<\/a> is California&rsquo;s policy to send every resident a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mail-in-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">mail-in ballot<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-upholds-arizona-voter-restrictions-spelling-trouble-for-doj-georgia-voter-rights-lawsuit\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Voter Restrictions, Spelling Trouble For DOJ Georgia \u2018Voter Rights\u2019 Lawsuit\">increase voter turnout<\/a> and accessibility. The state has broad deadlines for mail-in votes, giving voters days for their ballot to show up as long as the envelope has a postmark of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2024-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Election Day<\/a>, Nov. 5.<\/p>\n<p>The switch toward mail-in voting began in 2016 when California lawmakers passed a bill allowing counties to choose all-mail elections. Mail-in ballots were temporarily implemented statewide during the 2020 election, but they were made permanent in 2021 in preparation for the 2022 midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic Assemblyman Marc Berman, the author of 2021&rsquo;s permanent mail-in elections bill, said: &ldquo;Our priority is trying to maximize participation of actively registered voters. What that means is things are a little slower. But in a society that wants immediate gratification, I think our democracy is worth taking a little time to get it right and to create a system where everyone can participate.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>California has had trouble counting all the mailed votes quickly in the past as the rush of people dropping off their ballots in the mail on Election Day created an influx on election night. Half of the state&rsquo;s votes were counted after Election Day for the 2022 elections.<\/p>\n<p>Even with mail-in voting options, in-person voting systems were nonetheless massively overwhelmed in Los Angeles County, with some residents saying they had to wait over four hours in line just to cast their ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Dean Logan, Los Angeles County&rsquo;s registrar-recorder, <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/post\/several-uncalled-house-races-are-california-is-takes-state-weeks-count-votes\/15542213\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">told<\/a> ABC7: &ldquo;The places where we saw the bulk of lines in L.A. County were at colleges and universities, where we also saw students who were registering to vote and voting for the first time. And that takes longer and certainly makes the lines longer.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We received election night, when the polls closed, 1 million ballots that still needed to go through verification, signature verification, extraction. They need the same security and quality review as any of the ballots that were cast before the election,&rdquo; Logan said.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Even with the considerable number of votes left, Logan says everyone has been working around the clock to get votes counted.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have a day shift, and then we have a night shift that works from 7:30 at night till 7:30 in the morning. So we have kept that going daily,&rdquo; the registrar-recorder said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1884235\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1884235\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California&#8217;s slow vote count leaves key House races uncertain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3427,"featured_media":2370331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/AP24312105589692.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4045,6571,40519,45235],"class_list":["post-2370330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-california","tag-elections","tag-house-races","tag-vote-count"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/AP24312105589692.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2370330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2370334,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370330\/revisions\/2370334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2370331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2370330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2370330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2370330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}