In California, it’s not Election Night – it’s routinely Election Month for the closest races.
Consider that in the 2024 presidential election, Florida released its first vote counts at 7 PM Eastern Time according to the Associated Press. By 10:51 p.m. Eastern, it had counted and released vote totals for approximately 99 percent of the 11 million votes cast that year.
By contrast, California counted and reported just 62 percent of its total vote by the time the final overnight update was released at 1:24 a.m. Pacific time the day after the election, according to AP. It took counties until December 5, 30 days after the election to count the remaining 38 percent of California’s total 16.14 million ballots cast that year.
So, why does it take so long to count all the votes in California?
One key difference is that California hasn’t received all the ballots by election night.
If ballots are postmarked by Election Day, they can be received and counted up to 7 days after Election Day and still count. That’s a lot of votes. According to the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, about 26 percent of ballots in the November 2024 election arrived after Election Day. Florida requires all ballots to be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day to count.
Then there’s same day voter registration – California allows it; Florida doesn’t. Same day voters require more work to verify. Florida closes voter registration 29 days before Election Day, allowing voter verification to occur before the election.
If a voter has a missing or mismatched signature, California voters have 22 days to correct it while Florida voters must correct it by 5 p.m. on the second day after the election.
Then there’s reporting requirements. Florida requires fast reporting of results – the first major vote count must be reported within 30 minutes of polls closing, with updates coming at least every 45 minutes after that.
In California, counties are only required to count ballots for at least six hours per day during the canvassing period and reporting schedules are up to counties.
Overall, the Sunshine State’s voting system processes most ballots before Election Day and rapidly reports the results on Election Night. California’s system allows more ballots to arrive and be processed after Election Day.
Short of spending more money, what can be done to speed up the count?
The most obvious reforms would be to repeal same-day voter registration laws and require that voters return their ballots by Election Day to count. Unfortunately, those aren’t politically realistic reforms in a state where Democrats just expanded their legislative supermajorities.
But a few reforms that could win bipartisan support.
Lawmakers could shorten the period to cure signatures from the current 22 days to say 14 days, a reform recommended by the California Voter Foundation allowing for earlier certifications of results.
The Legislature could establish election night reporting standards, requiring fast and continual updates in a manner similar to what Florida mandates. They could also require counties to count and report a very high number of ballots – such as 95 percent of ballots – within 72 hours of the election. This, of course, may require additional budget funds and manpower to accomplish.
Speeding up California’s vote count is also important for accountability. Vote counts dragged out over days and weeks inevitably bring multiple lead changes in close races – and supporters of the losing candidate questioning the final results.
Requiring election returns to also include the estimated ballots remaining in a given race would educate voters why a race’s final outcome is still up in the air, and reduce the potential for post-election conspiracy theories. Counting could also prioritize finalizing counts quickly in the closest races.
Fast results would bring finality and restore confidence in our democracy. It should be a priority for California legislators in the next session.
Tim Anaya is the Pacific Research Institute’s vice president of marketing and communications and co-author of The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide.