California primaries face slow count in tight races

California voters headed to the polls Tuesday in primaries that could leave the state — and in some races, the country — waiting days or weeks for final answers.

The nation’s most populous state is holding major contests for governor, Los Angeles mayor and several congressional seats, but its heavy reliance on mail voting and detailed ballot-verification rules mean early results may tell only part of the story. NBC News reported that a large wave of returns is expected soon after polls close at 11 p.m. ET, followed by a sharp slowdown with millions of ballots still uncounted.

The governor’s race is one of the biggest tests. Candidates from all parties appear on the same ballot, with the top two advancing to the general election. Polls cited by NBC News show only slight separation among Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton. The Guardian also described the race as a volatile three-way contest among the same candidates.

The Los Angeles mayor’s race could also remain unresolved. Incumbent Karen Bass and challengers Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman are closely bunched in polling, NBC News reported. The top two finishers advance to a November runoff unless one candidate receives more than 50% in the all-party primary.

California’s slow count has become a familiar feature of election nights. In 2024, Orange County reported more than 700,000 votes just six minutes after polls closed, reflecting mail ballots that had been received and processed before Election Day, according to NBC News. Within about 90 minutes, roughly half of the statewide vote had been reported. But the pace then slowed: California did not reach 95% of the reported vote until Nov. 18, two weeks after Election Day.

The Guardian reported that more than 25% of California’s 2024 presidential vote total arrived too late to be counted by Election Day. State rules allow ballots to be received up to a week after Election Day, and counties must verify signatures, check that voters have not cast more than one ballot and give voters time to fix some problems, such as missing signatures.

Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan voting rights group, said the delay can damage public trust. “Like it or not, the more time that passes between election day and when results are known, the more voter confidence erodes,” she told The Guardian. “It’s an invitation to false claims about the reliability of the voting process even though we have the most accessible, secure and verifiable election system in the country.”

The slow process has political consequences beyond statewide races. Close congressional contests in California have delayed clarity over House control in recent election cycles. NBC News reported that in 2024, races in the 22nd and 27th districts were not settled until a week after the election, while the 13th District was not called for more than a month.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has urged counties to speed up their counts. “Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking hold,” he wrote in a letter to county election offices last month, according to The Guardian.

Lawmakers have passed new rules to tighten reporting deadlines, including requiring all non-problem ballots to be counted within 13 days instead of 30, The Guardian reported. But the changes came without new funding, and county officials have said they are being asked to do more with limited resources.

Some counties have improved their systems. Los Angeles County, which had counted 77% of its ballots one week after Election Day in November 2022, reached 96.9% at that point two years later after opening a new $10 million ballot processing facility, The Guardian reported.

Alexander said faster results do not have to come at the expense of accuracy. “One of the challenges we face is the misconception that we have to trade speed for accuracy, or access, or security,” she said. “I believe that’s a false choice.”