{"id":2612411,"date":"2026-06-09T11:27:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T11:27:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:27:51","slug":"california-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"CA&#8217;s Mail-In Ballot Policy Is An Invitation To Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/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%2Fcalifornia-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud%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=2612411&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>The article explains that Los Angeles mayoral race results shifted after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alaskas-elections-should-encourage-clear-choices-and-clear-winners-by-tim-griffin\/\" title=\"Alaska...s ...s Should Encourage Clear Choices and Clear ...ners. \u2013 By Tim Griffin\">late-arriving mail-<\/a>in ballots allowed Nithya Raman too overcome Spencer Pratt\u2019s initial lead and secure the win. It argues that this outcome highlights concerns about California\u2019s vote-by-mail rules-specifically, that ballots arriving up to seven days after Election Day can be counted even when the envelope lacks a readable postmark.  <\/p>\n<p>Under California election law, if there is no datable postmark (or it\u2019s illegible) and no receipt date stamp from a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >private mail delivery service<\/a>, the ballot may still be accepted if the voter dates the identification envelope or the envelope indicates it was \u201cexcepted\u201d on or before Election Day. The piece contends that this approach relies on information that officials cannot independently verify,creating room for skepticism about election security. It notes that while the law doesn\u2019t prove fraud in this election, it could allow scenarios where the actual mailing date is unclear.  <\/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<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Tbt7erVDNww>CBS LA\/ Youtube <\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/06\/09\/california-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=California Allows Late Ballots With No Postmark \u2014 That\u2019s An Invitation To Fraud&#038;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/06\/09\/california-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=California Allows Late Ballots With No Postmark \u2014 That\u2019s An Invitation To Fraud&#038;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/06\/09\/california-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/06\/09\/california-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=California Allows Late Ballots With No Postmark \u2014 That\u2019s An Invitation To Fraud&#038;body=The race has once again drawn rightful attention to California&#039;s insecure and curious mail-in ballot rules.%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/06\/09\/california-allows-late-ballots-with-no-postmark-thats-an-invitation-to-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &#038; Email\"><span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Many Americans went to bed one week ago today presumably thinking Spencer Pratt was headed to the November runoff for Los Angeles mayor. After all, he was leading Socialist City Councilwoman Nithya Raman by thousands of votes on election night. But within a week, The Associated Press has called the race for Raman, after a wave of late-arriving mail-in ballots erased that deficit. Notably, Raman underperformed in her own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/los-angeles-officials-challenge-latest-homeless-count-that-found-zero-homeless-in-venice-beach\/\" title=\"Los Angeles Officials Challenge Latest Homeless Count That Found Zero Homeless In Venice Beach\">city council district<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Whether that outcome was surprising or entirely predictable, the race has once again drawn rightful attention to California\u2019s insecure and curious mail-in ballot rules. <\/p>\n<div id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2203966840\" class=\"d-flex justify-content-center fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2 fdrlst__b89e9-entity-placement\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>And with the flood of late-arriving mail-in ballots having helped propel Raman into second place, it\u2019s worth looking at one of the state\u2019s more questionable election procedures. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/regulations\/california\/2-CCR-20991\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">state election law<\/a>,\u00a0a late-arriving mail-in ballot missing a postmark can still be counted so long as it arrives by seven days <em>after<\/em> Election Day. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cVote-by-mail ballot is postmarked or date stamped on or before Election Day by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-problems-with-californias-month-long-vote-counting-process\/\" title=\"5 Problems With California&#039;s Month-Long Vote Counting Process\">bona fide private mail delivery service<\/a> and received by the elections official in accordance with Elections Code section 3020,\u201d state law says. <\/p>\n<p>If a vote-by-mail envelop \u201chas no dated postmark, the postmark is illegible, and there is no date stamp for receipt from a bona fide private mail delivery service\u201d the ballot can still be counted if the \u201cvoter has dated the vote-by-mail ballot identification envelope or the envelope otherwise indicates that the ballot was excepted on or before Election Day\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, a late arriving mail-in ballot can be accepted even when election officials have no way of independently verifying when it was actually mailed. Election law expert Hans Von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation confirmed as much to The Federalist\u2019s Matt Kittle on iHeartRadio on Monday. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there\u2019s no postmark on it or it\u2019s too blurry to read \u2026 the law in CA is \u2018We\u2019ll go by whatever date the voter wrote in the envelope,&#8217;\u201d Spakovsky told Kittle. <\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t necessarily prove fraud in the mayoral race, but it does leave room for questions and skepticism about California\u2019s election integrity when it chooses to count ballots that lack an objective third-party method of verification for the day they were mailed out on. For example, a voter realistically could cast a ballot the day <em>after<\/em> the election but handwrite the Election Day date on the envelope since the system relies heavily on self-reporting and trust. If the ballot arrives within the seven-day time frame during which mail-in ballots are accepted, the ballot could count. <\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist\u2019s Sean Davis <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/videos\/davis-californias-election-system-was-designed-to-engineer-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> on <em>The Megyn Kelly Show<\/em> when discussing California\u2019s election system, it\u2019s hard to believe that allowing voters to submit ballots missing a verifiable way to assure the ballot was submitted on or before Election Day but still counting those ballots makes for a \u201ccredible, secure\u201d election. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is only one reason to design an election in this way, and it\u2019s to control the outcome,\u201d Davis continued. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Brianna Lyman<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/briannalyman2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\">@briannalyman2<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/briannalyman\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/california\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">California<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/elections\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Elections<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/karen-bass\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Karen Bass<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/los-angeles\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Los Angeles<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/mail-in-ballot\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">mail-in ballot<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/nithya-raman\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Nithya Raman<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/spencer-pratt\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Spencer Pratt<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/vote-by-mail\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">vote by mail<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A week later, AP calls LA mayor race for Raman as CA mail-in rules allow counting ballots without clear postmarks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2612412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-09-at-10.11.42-AM-scaled-e1781014420750-1024x577.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[37666,32644,6571,37054,32645],"class_list":["post-2612411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-california-politics","tag-election-integrity","tag-elections","tag-mail-in-voting","tag-voter-fraud"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-09-at-10.11.42-AM-scaled-e1781014420750-1024x577.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612411","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\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2612411"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2612415,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612411\/revisions\/2612415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2612412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2612411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2612411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2612411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}