California's inability to quickly count votes

 American Action News:

More than two weeks after Election Day, deep-blue California is still yet to finish counting ballots.

The lengthy waiting period is the result of a combination of convoluted policy and a lack of manpower, with staffing shortages, lax mail-in ballot rules and a lengthy window to certify votes all impeding the process, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The two uncalled races could have significant impacts on the balance of power in the House as the GOP currently has just 219 seats locked up — one more than the 218 needed for a majority — with three of the seats to be left vacant as special elections are conducted to replace Trump cabinet nominees and former Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

California permits elections to be conducted entirely by mail and sends ballots to all active registered voters. The state then counts all mail-ins that arrive in the seven days following Election Day, so long as they are postmarked on or before 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, effectively delaying the count.

“The all-mail election system inherently slows down the process because of the postmark deadline,” California campaign consultant Nick Dokoozlian told the DCNF. “It accommodates voters in rural areas, but it also delays final counts.”

The 30-day period counties receive to certify results following Election Day is also a major holdup, according to Dokoozlian: “The biggest problem is the 30-day certification period. Each county is just absolutely milking that time.”

A report from non-partisan election database California Target Book found election officials in San Joaquin County, California, counted just 216 provisional ballots between Nov. 15 and Nov. 18. Election staffers also opted not to update the total estimated number of unprocessed ballots, with California campaign finance expert Rob Pyers writing Monday that “it also looks like they [San Joaquin County election officials] had absolutely enough math for one day and just left the total estimated number of unprocessed ballots the same as it was on Friday afternoon.”
...

California can be an attractive place, but its political malfunction should be seen as a problem.  Mial-in voting clearly slows down the process.   The Texas population is also large and yet Texas manages to count all the votes on election night in most cases.  It is not that hard unless you deliberately make it hard.  I don't really believe California was that backward when Reagan was governor.

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