Volunteers are rushing to cure ballots in a House race with razor thin margins.
Elections officials across California are working to count almost 90,000 ballots and resolve issues with nearly 100,000 others by Dec. 3, the deadline for counties to report results of the presidential election to Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office.
Delays with California’s vote counting process are attributed to a reliance on mail-in ballots, which take longer to verify than in-person votes, according to elections officials. Every registered California voter received a ballot that could be returned by mail, at official drop boxes, or at polling places.
Officials verify mail-in ballots returned by voters by comparing signatures on ballots with those on voter registration files.
When voters fail to sign ballots or discrepancies are observed, registrars attempt to contact voters by mail, email, and phone, to resolve the issue and “cure” the votes.
“All of this takes staff time and lengthens final certification,” Jesse Salinas, Yolo County assessor, clerk-recorder, and registrar of voters, said in a Nov. 22 statement.
A new law passed this year, Assembly Bill 3184, extended the vote-counting process to allow more time for volunteers to cure votes—until 5 p.m. on Dec. 1—and prohibited counties from certifying results