Full Committee Hearing: “Why the Wait? Unpacking California’s Untimely Election Counting Process”
Committee on House Administration
2025-04-29
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Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
The Committee on House Administration will come to order. The title of today's hearing is Why the Wait? Unpacking California's Untimely Election Process. I note that a quorum is present. Without objection, the Chair may declare a recess at any time. Also, without objection, the hearing record will remain open for five legislative days, so members may submit any material they wish to be included therein. Thank you, Ranking Member Morelle, members of the Committee. and our witnesses for participating in today's hearing. Today, the Committee on House Administration will continue its oversight of federal election policies. The Chairman of the Committee, it's a top priority of mine to improve federal election law. and increased transparency for American voters. During the 2024 election cycle, 155 million Americans across the country cast their ballot in the elections for President, Senate, House of Representatives, in state and local elections as well. Over 16 million of those votes were cast in the state of California. Most Americans watched election results being announced on election night. That wasn't the case in California. According to Associated Press, it wasn't until December 4, nearly a month later, that all of the California races were ultimately called. The longer it takes to provide the results of an election, the more voters can lose trust and become frustrated with the process. Today, we'll examine the reasons for California's delay in reporting results. Major cause of the delay in California election results is the state's universal mail system, which is prone to delays, tabulation, and ultimately the calling of races. The ability to vote by mail in California has been available in the state since 1982, And state lawmakers have continuously expanded the bounds of mail-in voting ever since. In 2022, the California legislature codified pandemic-era procedural laws and enacted universal vote-by-mail for every election administered by the state. In other words, every registered voter in California gets a mail-in ballot.
This not only opens the door for potential fraud, but it also causes delays on the counting side. Another issue we'll explore today includes accepting ballots after Election Day. Currently, California accepts ballots delivered up to seven days after Election Day. We'll discuss with our witnesses if that means it needs to be postmarked, what happens if it's not postmarked, what happens if it's dated, not dated by the candidate. But California accepts ballots collected up to seven days after Election Day. This matters because on election day, California doesn't know how many ballots will be cast, and so results for close elections can't be announced in a timely manner. Make no mistake, it's California's own state policies that are creating these significant delays in election reporting. While other states are taking steps to implement positive change, California spent 50 years moving in the other direction. For example, in a state like Florida with a population of 23 million, Florida is able to report election results on election night. Following the 2000 election, of course, Florida took a serious look at its own election policies and passed a law to ensure ballots are actually counted on and by election night. California's system also doesn't really increase voter participation. Time of the election results, I believe, builds voter confidence and can increase voter turnout. In Florida, voter turnout was 78.9% of registered voters, a record high. California's participation in the 24 election was 71.4% of registered voters. Florida requires absentee ballots to be delivered to local election offices by the close of polls on Election Day. Florida absentee voters may cure ballot discrepancies within two days after the elections. In California, voters have up to 28 days to cure absentee ballots. Twenty-eight days. It's a long time, something we can be discussing with our witnesses as well.
In November, three days after the election, I traveled to Los Angeles County's Central Count and got to witness the tabulating process in Los Angeles County firsthand. When I arrived three days after the election, LA Central Count still had 900,000 outstanding ballots that need needed to be tabulated. And that's in L. A county alone. That's not the state of California.
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