![\"California](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMGL5620.jpg\")
California Governor Gavin Newsom at the US Conference of Mayors\u2019 94th annual meeting. David Buchan for Ca Post<\/p>\nWhat does California have to hide?<\/p>\n
After all, if the voting process were as fair, accurate and secure as Gov. Gavin Newsom and others have claimed, why not allow federal investigators to examine it?<\/p>\n
The rest of the country is, understandably, alarmed as it watches results come in from the June 2 primary \u2014 not because of who qualified for the general election, but because of how they did so.<\/p>\n
If California were a Third World country, the State Department would already have condemned its election as a subversion of democracy.<\/p>\n
California Governor Gavin Newsom at the US Conference of Mayors\u2019 94th annual meeting. David Buchan for Ca Post<\/p>\n
In the LA mayor\u2019s race, Nithya Raman was so far behind on Election Night \u2014 about 8 points \u2014 that she broke down in tears.<\/p>\n
And yet as more ballots came in, Raman overtook challenger Spencer Pratt, who had won the mayoral debate and dominated on social media.<\/p>\n
Was Raman\u2019s surge legit? Maybe.<\/p>\n
At least one major poll had her in second place before the vote, and surprises aren\u2019t unique to California.<\/p>\n
![\"Los](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/los-angeles-mayoral-candidate-nithya-129653946_d10309.jpg\")
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman smiles during her election night party. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Yet what is unique to California is a process that allows ballots to arrive up to a week after Election Day.<\/p>\n
California also allows the bizarre practice of \u201cballot harvesting,\u201d which effectively means partisan operatives can stuff the ballot box with unlimited numbers of mail-in ballots.<\/p>\n
And as lead federal prosecutor Bill Essayli points out<\/a>, California also allows residents to register to vote using a bizarre range of ID documents \u2014 including debit cards and prescription drug labels.<\/p>\n A recent lawsuit against the state claims there are 873,092 inactive voter registrations on the rolls.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalifornia’s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n In a state that automatically mails ballots to all registered voters \u2014 a change adopted during the pandemic, when Democrats claimed it was unsafe to go to a polling place \u2014 that creates lots of opportunity for mischief.<\/p>\n There are other vulnerabilities, too: Same-day registration; the ability to vote outside your polling place; loose signature standards; even a rule<\/a> that requires officials to accept sample ballots, if they are submitted in place of real ones.<\/p>\n Voter ID? That\u2019s strictly forbidden for now, thanks to a law signed by Newsom before the 2024 election<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mail-in ballots have to be signed \u2014 but there\u2019s no real enforcement or verification.<\/p>\n Newsom has a habit of signing laws to prevent transparency, right before elections. He did it this year, too, signing a law<\/a> to prevent law enforcement from taking possession of voter rolls.<\/p>\n