{"id":415862,"date":"2026-07-29T00:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/415862\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:05:10","slug":"ap-nearly-150000-california-mail-ballots-rejected-as-slow-vote-counts-drag-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/415862\/","title":{"rendered":"AP: Nearly 150,000 California mail ballots rejected as slow vote counts drag on"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) California\u2019s slow vote counting has long drawn scrutiny, and new data is adding to the debate over voting by mail.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press reported that nearly 150,000 California voters had their mail-in ballots rejected. <\/p>\n

In Kern County, just over 97% of ballots were accepted. <\/p>\n

Of the ballots that were not accepted, more than 3,000 were not received on time.<\/p>\n

\"AP:<\/p>\n

AP: Nearly 150,000 California mail ballots rejected as slow vote counts drag on (Photo by Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem like a number that\u2019s terribly material to me. But again, I think the election offices seek to be as perfect as they can,\u201d said Tal Eslick.<\/p>\n

Political experts noted that no election system is flawless and that with millions of ballots cast across California, mistakes can happen. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think of it if you have a hundred people do any one thing, you\u2019re probably going to have at least three or four do things that are completely different than anybody else,\u201d Eslick said.<\/p>\n

The report comes as President Donald Trump continues to criticize mail in ballots. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s nothing compared to what\u2019s going on in California, Minnesota, and so many other states. And hopefully there will be no mail in ballots. Mail in ballots are inherently corrupt,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\"AP:<\/p>\n

AP: Nearly 150,000 California mail ballots rejected as slow vote counts drag on (AP Photo\/Jeff Chiu, File)<\/p>\n

In a statement, the California Secretary of State\u2019s office said:<\/p>\n

Our office has diligently advised those who vote by mail to cast their ballot in a timely manner. We issued substantial messaging making the public aware of changes that may impact their ballots being received on time and provided alternative methods to ensure their vote can be counted.<\/p>\n

Eslick said the data could encourage voters to return ballots earlier ahead of the upcoming general election.<\/p>\n

\"AP:<\/p>\n

AP: Nearly 150,000 California mail ballots rejected as slow vote counts drag on (KRCR)<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope if anything it would encourage voters to turn in their ballots on time. Again, elections aren\u2019t a surprise its really pretty mind numbing to me that we are so accommodating because you know when it’s coming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) California\u2019s slow vote counting has long drawn scrutiny, and new data is adding to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-415862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}