“The Democrats are at work again”: Trump’s attack on the California elections offers an interim preview

In California, it often takes days or even weeks for votes to be counted after the election. This is a result of voter protection measures and a flood of mail-in ballots cast on Election Day. Incomplete vote totals reported in the hours after polls close do not always reflect final results.

None of this is evidence of fraud. But President Donald Trump has spent more than a week making baseless accusations of wrongdoing in California’s June 2 primary, where votes were still being counted as recently as June 11, offering a glimpse into his approach to November’s midterm elections.

Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that Democrats are stealing the election, even though the state is a party stronghold. California’s long count is a well-known feature of its elections, according to election officials about a month to process and count all ballot papers.

Democrats and election experts are not surprised by Trump’s comments and say he is resorting to familiar tactics to discredit unfavorable results.

“Whenever they don’t like the outcome of an election, they spread lies about the election,” said David Becker, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research and a former attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Voting Rights Division.

“The Dumocrats”

After the 2020 election, Trump’s allies launched a legal campaign to overturn the president’s losses in key battleground states, citing nonexistent fraud. When that failed, Republican lawmakers objected and affirmed President Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College. Finally, on January 6, 2021, Trump gathered a crowd of supporters who stormed the Capitol.

During this time, Trump repeatedly described the election as stolen – a theme he returned to in his criticism of California.

“The Dumocrats are at work again!” Trump wrote in one Social media post on June 3rd. “They are trying to STAND TWO MAJOR REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES THE GOVERNOR OF THE CALIFORNIA PRIMARY AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES THE PRIMARY. Here we are with the very late and enormous number of mail-in ballots.”

The US Department of Justice is following the president’s lead. The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles has raised suspicions to California’s elections to the state’s refusal to release its unredacted voter rolls, which contain residents’ sensitive personal information.

The Justice Department has sued California and 29 other states to gain access to the data it plans to feed into a Department of Homeland Security computer program that can identify likely non-citizen voters. So far, no federal judge has agreed that the DOJ is entitled to the information.

Keep an eye on the midterm exams

The voter lawsuits are part of a proactive campaign by the Trump administration to exert influence and control over the midterm elections before voting begins.

The President signed an executive order Restriction of postal voting which is currently facing several lawsuits. And Trump wants Congress to require voters to provide documents proving their citizenship, but the legislation has stalled in the Senate.

There is a lot at stake for Trump and the Republicans in the midterm elections. If Democrats take back the House, the Senate, or even both, it would mean the end of his legislative agenda and more aggressive control of the government.

At the same time, Americans’ confidence in elections is sinking. Two-thirds of U.S. adults say they are confident or very confident that their state or local government will conduct a fair and precise election, up from 76% in October 2024 a survey in March conducted by Marist University.

The state of the House in 2026 — and Trump’s past comments — suggest he could direct his wrath toward more states in November.

For example, of the 18 House races presented by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter categorized Three are in Pennsylvania, a swing state that Trump claimed was the scene of voter fraud in 2020 (he won the state in 2024).

California has its own “toss-up” House of Representatives and three other feeble Democrats, meaning they remain competitive. After California, Texas and other states changed their congressional schedules in recent months, control of the House of Representatives could once again fall to California.

“It was pretty clear to all of us that Republicans were laying the groundwork to do anything and say anything to stay in power,” California Democrat Pete Aguilar said at a news conference press conference on June 9th.

Evidence of fraud?

States Newsroom called on the White House to provide evidence supporting Trump’s claims of fraud in California. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded with a statement that did not directly answer the question.

“Countless Americans share the same concerns as President Trump as they watch the way California conducts its election, including the fact that it takes weeks to get results,” the statement read in part.

California sluggish vote counting dates back years and is determined by several factors. California joins seven other states in sending mail-in ballots to all voters. In a statewide special election last year, nearly 89% of voters cast their ballots this way.

This results in a flood of ballots arriving at election offices in the days leading up to and on Election Day and huge numbers of voters casting their ballots in person. Voters’ signatures must be verified on ballot envelopes, leading to more behind-the-scenes work that slows down poll workers.

Voters who have an issue with their ballot, such as a missing or mismatched signature, also have the opportunity to resolve the issue. The process, called “ballot curing,” requires more time.

Additionally, California has a one-week grace period for ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive delayed, creating a trickle of votes arriving at election offices days after polls close.

The US Supreme Court is ready to do so give an opinion These grace periods could soon be eliminated nationwide, but such a decision could enhance the accumulation of ballots on Election Day as voters want to cast their ballots earlier.

Recognized the need for faster counting

Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, recalled the image of a snake digesting a huge meal and compared the arrival of ballots on Election Day to “the thing in the python.” Her nonprofit group has long advocated for improvements to the state’s election process, including faster counting.

“While I am dismayed by the unfair criticism of California, I am more concerned that voter confidence is being undermined not only by these fraudulent claims, but also by the lengthy count itself,” Alexander said.

The demand to know the winners of races on election night has been fueled by the newfangled media, as news networks and television networks announce the winners of the races. However, these calls are almost always based on incomplete vote counts and often rely on mathematical analysis of whether enough votes remain uncounted to give other candidates a realistic chance of winning.

Depending on each state’s procedures, candidates are officially declared winners by election boards and other election officials in the days and weeks following the election. Often, election night vote totals match the actual outcome of a race, but not always — a loophole that Trump is now exploiting to claim fraud.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in May sent a letter to election officials who seemed to have all but anticipated the reaction to the June primary and demanded quick and precise vote tallies.

“Time is of the essence to prevent election lies from taking hold,” Newsom wrote.

House GOP leaders join the criticism

While California’s sluggish process is normal for the state, Trump’s allies have embraced it, confusing the pace of the count with evidence of wrongdoing, even if they haven’t always accused Democrats as clearly as the president of trying to steal the election.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said during an exchange On Monday, he told a CNN reporter that although the election was rigged, it “stinks to high heaven.”

“Whether you can prove fraud or not, it undermines the integrity of voters when they vote,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican. said the sluggish count at a press conference.

But Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, likened the vote count to a football game. The vote totals available on election night represent the half-time score – however the final score at the end of the game will be different.

“It doesn’t mean there is cheating, it just means the game has ended,” Lieu told reporters. “That’s what we’re seeing right now, we’re finishing the vote count. And then we’ll see who wins and who loses.”