{"id":350137,"date":"2026-06-07T02:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/350137\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T02:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:23:08","slug":"californias-election-system-has-lost-public-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/350137\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s election system has lost public trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s election system<\/a> is a farce.<\/p>\n

Balloting guardrails? Gone.<\/p>\n

Voter ID<\/a>? Racist, we\u2019re told.<\/p>\n

An efficient, reliable vote count? You\u2019ve got to be kidding.<\/p>\n

Deliberate or not, it\u2019s a process that invites exploitation.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s election system is a farce. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

And when results shift days after voting closes \u2013\u2013 as they do repeatedly in California elections<\/a>, and as they have since Tuesday in the races for governor and LA mayor \u2013\u2013 many voters believe the worst.<\/p>\n

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So: Good that the federal government is investigating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in LA<\/a>, said that federal officials are auditing state voter rolls and have opened multiple investigations into possible election fraud.<\/p>\n

Such scrutiny is long overdue.<\/p>\n

So: Good that the federal government is investigating.\u00a0 Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

Essayli and others have noted that in California, universal mail voting without voter ID has made it easy for bad actors to commit fraud without detection or repercussion.<\/p>\n

Add to that an inane vote-counting system that takes weeks to complete, and we have a process that instills not confidence, but doubt and derision nationwide.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom often likes to brag that\u2019s California\u2019s a leader, but on the fundamentals of voting and democracy, it\u2019s a laughingstock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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State officials say they drop guardrails and count slowly to ensure broad access to voting, to prioritize accurate counting over speed.<\/p>\n

But those are happy talking points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Access and oversight are not mutually exclusive. Neither are speed and an accurate count.<\/p>\n

Other states and nations manage to balance all of the above, and they do so routinely.<\/p>\n

State officials say they drop guardrails and count slowly to ensure broad access to voting, to prioritize accurate counting over speed. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

And California\u2019s glacial vote-counting process is an outlier not just in the United States, but in the world.<\/p>\n

Clearly: The state\u2019s voting system needs a revamp. Voters can start by approving a voter ID measure on the Nov. 3 ballot.<\/p>\n

Among other changes, California should send mail-in ballots only to voters who request them; require each voter to submit his\/her own ballot; require that all votes are received, not just postmarked, by Election Day; and deliver final vote counts within hours, not weeks.<\/p>\n

Clearly: The state\u2019s voting system needs a revamp. Voters can start by approving a voter ID measure on the Nov. 3 ballot. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

Other states do such things. California can, too.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s missing is not knowledge, imagination or examples of better approaches.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s missing is the political will in Sacramento to do what\u2019s right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s missing is the very leadership voters struggle to find in a system that seems warped and broken and stacked against the very new approaches we need.<\/p>\n

Yes, things need to change.<\/p>\n

Because public faith in California\u2019s voting system? It\u2019s shot.<\/p>\n

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