Why does it take so long to count votes in California? Here's why the process may feel even slower this election

Millions of Californians filled out their 2026 primary election ballots over the last several weeks either at home or at the polls, expressing their constitutional right to vote in a free and fair election. And each election cycle, it takes days — even weeks — to count the millions of mail-in ballots, leading to questions inside and outside the state about whether the process needs changing.

As frustrations mount and impatience grows, some experts say the state is simply doing its due diligence to ensure every voter's voice is heard. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent an open letter to county election officials, urging them to speed up the counting process in order to stave off unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about election security.

On Thursday, match-ups in both the California gubernatorial primary and the Los Angeles mayoral race remained up in in the air. Between the two marquee races, just one candidate has been projected to advance: incumbent LA Mayor Karen Bass.

"California really cares about counting its ballots," said Christian Grose, USC professor of political science, international relations and public policy who is academic director of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy. "And so as a result, we have a lot of different ways to vote."

Dean Logan, the LA County Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk, said ballot counters are ahead of pace compared to previous elections. 

"The reality is California gives voters the greatest options to cast their ballots," Logan said. 

Voting by mail and "a lot of choices on the ballot"  

Mail-in voting is overwhelmingly used by voters over going to the polls in California. According to the California Secretary of State, about 13 million of the approximately 16 million votes in the 2024 presidential election in California were cast using vote-by-mail ballots.  

As of October 2025, there were 23 million registered voters in the state, according to the Secretary of State. Counties send mail-in ballots to every registered voter, whether they plan to use them or not. 

Since California law allows for mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the county within a week of that date, the process takes time, Grose said.

"The reason a lot of the ballots haven't been counted yet is because they were dropped in the mail Monday [or] Tuesday, and as long as they're postmarked by Tuesday, they get to be counted," Grose said. "And a lot people in this election, especially waited until the last minute to vote because there are a lot of choices on the ballot."

The two most high-profile races of this cycle, the gubernatorial election and LA mayoral election, are among the tightest and most competitive those particular races have been in recent years. In the governor's race, as many as nine candidates polled well enough to qualify for major debates, creating a tough choice for many voters.

Election security measures, ballot curing 

Another reason for the wait is that California has "decided to take longer to make sure all the votes are counted" through a strict process, Grose said. 

Many states conduct a process called signature matching, but California's sheer volume of ballots makes it a tall task for election administrators. Ballots received through the mail go through machines to ensure the signature on the ballot matches the signature that same voter used on their voter registration forms. If the machines reject any matches, as Grose explained, election administration offices will physically check themselves to see if they match to the human eye.

California allows for a process called ballot curing, which allows voters to correct, or cure, their ballots if they were rejected by both the machine and an election administrator.

"[Curing] also takes time too," Grose said. "It is frustrating because we don't know who the winner is all the time quickly, but then it gives voters the opportunity to make that their votes are accounted and that their votes are counted securely."

Competitive races and razor-thin margins

The process is nothing new, as Grose pointed out. 

Grose said in most races through the years, such as the 2025 Proposition 50 special election, the margin of victory is wide enough for media outlets to project a victor on election night. But with ultra-competitive races such as those for governor and LA mayor, it's going to take more time, Grose said, as those mail-in ballots are going to contain the deciding votes.

"It's normal to have weeks until we have the final count," he said. "It's a little more unusual here that we have so many close elections, we don't know the outcome yet."

Grose says a potential partisan split between voting method could lead to late boosts to left-leaning candidates as vote counts continue to be updated. With a Republican field of just two major candidates in the gubernatorial race, conservative-minded voters may have made their minds up earlier, making it more likely for Democrats and other left-leaning voters to delay their votes due to a longer decision-making process about a crowded field.

"Democrats sat on their ballots trying to decide who they might want to vote for," Grose said. "And Democrats mail their ballots in Tuesday, Monday, and that's one of the reasons that we might see Democrats gain in some of the ballots that are counted in the next few days." 

Ultimately, Grose said he doesn't want the issue of mail-in voting to become a partisan issue, as counting the largest number of votes possible is the best outcome for a functioning democracy.

"I think it's personally unfortunate when democracy, literally counting ballots, turns into a partisan battle," Grose said. "President versus governor, Newsom versus Trump. It really should be how can we do it the best and as fast as possible and not a partisan issue."

The LA County Registrar has a live stream of the vote-by-mail operation available on its website.