Florida Had Election Results in Hours. Why Is California Still Counting?

By Lucretia Hughes Klucken

A social media commenter asked a question many Americans are thinking after Tuesday’s elections: “Is California done counting ballots? Florida did in two hours what California couldn’t in months.”

The wording may be exaggerated, but the concern behind it is legitimate.

Florida held a statewide primary election Tuesday involving millions of voters and numerous races. Major contests were called within hours of the polls closing. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds was declared the winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary, and former U.S. Rep. David Jolly secured the Democratic nomination.

California held a special election in only one congressional district Tuesday, yet the result remained undetermined Wednesday morning.

State Sen. Aisha Wahab held a narrow lead over BART Board President Melissa Hernandez in the special election to complete former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s unfinished term. With the candidates separated by fewer than 1,400 votes in the early count, election officials continued processing ballots.

Wahab had approximately 51% of the vote, while Hernandez had about 49%, according to unofficial results available Wednesday.

The difference between Florida and California does not necessarily mean one state counted every ballot election night while the other counted none.

When news organizations “call” a race, they are making a statistical determination that the trailing candidate has no realistic path to victory based on the votes counted, outstanding ballots, voting patterns and size of the margin.

That is not the same as an official certification.

Florida did not certify its entire election within two hours. News organizations were able to project winners quickly because the leading candidates had margins large enough to eliminate any reasonable possibility of a different outcome.

California’s congressional race was too close to call.

But that explanation does not completely excuse California’s repeated delays.

California’s election laws are designed in a way that virtually guarantees counting will continue after Election Day.

The state automatically mails a ballot to every active registered voter. Ballots mailed by Election Day may be counted if county officials receive them within seven days. Large numbers of voters also return mail ballots at voting centers and drop boxes on Election Day, requiring officials to begin verifying and processing those ballots after the polls close.

Election workers must verify the voter’s signature on the return envelope. Ballots with missing or mismatched signatures may require additional review, and California provides voters time to correct certain problems.

Provisional ballots and ballots cast by people using same-day registration also require individual verification before they can be counted.

State officials say those procedures protect eligible voters and ensure valid ballots are not discarded because of correctable mistakes.

That is the official explanation.

The public, however, is still entitled to ask why the nation’s most populous state cannot combine election access with faster results.

Florida also allows voting by mail. Florida election officials may begin processing mail ballots before Election Day, though results cannot be released until the polls close. Most mail ballots must reach the local election office by 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Florida voters generally have until 5 p.m. on the second day after an election to correct certain signature problems. Those remaining ballots normally do not prevent news organizations from calling races when the margins are decisive.

The major difference is the deadline.

California continues accepting qualifying mailed ballots for seven days after the election. Florida generally requires domestic mail ballots to arrive by the time polls close.

California cannot produce a complete final count on election night while ballots that may legally be counted have not yet arrived.

That is not a conspiracy. It is the predictable consequence of laws California lawmakers chose to enact.

The question is whether those laws serve voters well.

California passed legislation requiring counties to count and report most ballots within 13 days, rather than allowing the full 30-day canvassing period for nearly every ballot. However, several categories are exempt, including provisional ballots, same-day registration ballots, ballots needing signature corrections and certain late-arriving mail ballots.

County election officials still have weeks to complete the official canvass, while the secretary of state’s certification comes later.

Accuracy matters. Every lawful vote should be counted, and officials should not sacrifice verification merely to satisfy television networks.

Speed also matters.

When Americans watch one state identify winners within hours while another remains uncertain for days or weeks, confidence suffers. The longer a count remains unresolved, the more space opens for rumors, accusations and distrust.

Election officials cannot demand public confidence while dismissing every question about delay as misinformation.

Trust is earned through transparency, consistency and timely reporting.

California could improve its process without preventing lawful voters from participating. Lawmakers could require mailed ballots to arrive by Election Day, expand early ballot processing, provide more frequent public reports on outstanding ballots and establish tighter deadlines for curing signature problems.

The state could also make it easier for voters who bring mail ballots to polling places to have those ballots processed as in-person votes. California has already allowed some counties to adopt a “sign, scan and go” system intended to reduce the backlog created by Election Day ballot drop-offs.

The comparison between Florida and California also exposes a broader problem with American elections: States operate under significantly different rules.

A ballot mailed on Election Day may still be valid in California if it arrives within the statutory window. The same ballot could be rejected in Florida for missing the Election Day arrival deadline.

Americans voting in the same federal election are therefore operating under different procedures depending on where they live.

That may be constitutional under the nation’s decentralized election system, but it is not always reassuring.

Florida’s election was not officially completed in two hours. Its major races were called because the margins were decisive and enough ballots had been tabulated to determine that the outcome would not change.

California’s special congressional election remained uncalled because the margin was narrow and an unknown number of legally valid ballots remained outstanding.

Those are the facts.

But the commenter’s larger point still stands.

If Florida can process a statewide election involving millions of voters and provide meaningful results on election night, California should be capable of doing better in a single congressional district.

Counting every lawful vote and reporting results promptly should not be competing goals.

Americans deserve both.