Why CA primary vote count isn’t done

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal:

Two weeks after voting ended in California’s primary, there are 166,000 ballots left to be counted, and a dozen congressional and legislative races remain too close to call, along with Proposition 1.

While the uncounted ballots are only about 2% of the 7.7 million cast, readers have again asked why it takes so long for California to finish counting votes.

California started mailing ballots to all registered voters for the November 2020 election. This year, about 50% of ballots cast were counted on primary night March 5, compared to 41% in June 2022, according to data from the California Voter Foundation.

But processing mail-in ballots can take time. Any ballots postmarked by March 5 and received by March 12 still get counted. Also, there are a number of steps county elections offices take to ensure the integrity of each voter’s ballot, some of which can’t start until after election day. And counties have varying levels of staffing or resources that can impact how quickly the work is done. As of Tuesday night, 12 of 58 counties reported completing their tallies.

• Ryan Ronco, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials and registrar of voters for Placer County: “It’s not just about counting ballots, although that is critically important. It’s also about counting ballots accurately with staff that you have that can commit to that project — knowing that there are also other legally required projects that we need to complete during this period.”

While part of the delay is due to ensuring accuracy, lengthy vote counts can create distrust among some voters.

The state passed some laws to try and speed up the process. One new law allows counties to immediately scan vote-by-mail ballots from people who bring them in person. Placer County did so this primary: About 8,000 people used the system of the nearly 15,000 who came to vote centers.

Another new law allows counties to contact voters via email or text for signature verification. But both laws just went into effect on Jan. 1, and not all counties have had the time or resources to opt in yet.

In Orange County, the last batch of notification letters were sent out March 13, according to Bob Page, the county’s registrar of voters. Voters have until two days prior to certification of the election to respond.

Counties have until April 2 to report the final results of the presidential primaries to the Secretary of State’s office, and until April 5 for other state races. The Secretary of State will certify the final primary results by April 12.

Special congressional election: The vote count has gone on so long there’s already another election: The special to fill the remainder of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s term in the Republican-friendly 20th Congressional District.

In returns as of late Tuesday night, Assemblymember Vince Fong had 40.5% of the vote, fellow Republican and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux had 26% and Democratic teacher Marisa Wood had 23%. If no wins 50% plus one, there will be a runoff between the top two on May 21. At stake is a head start on seniority in the U.S. House, plus a likely expansion of the slim GOP majority.

Most of the nine candidates on the special election ballot are the same as the 11 who ran in the March 5 primary. In that top-two race, Fong, with 42% of the vote, and Boudreaux, with 24%, advanced to November for the full two-year term that starts in January.

The Assembly Public Safety committee convened on Tuesday, considering bills about fentanyl, guns, maternity health for pregnant prisoners and more. Presiding as chairperson was Kevin McCarty, a Sacramento Democrat who still hopes to make the runoff to be the capital city’s next mayor.

Though he had “zero interest” in leading Public Safety at first, McCarty accepted Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ call to replace Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, who became a controversial figure last session.

In his new role, McCarty said he aims to strike a balance between holding criminals accountable and rehabilitation. I sat down with him to talk about his approach to crime, the state’s drug crisis and retail theft, which has been a focus for state officials in recent months, even though the “crisis” may be exaggerated. (Attorney General Rob Bonta, for example, announced felony charges against three suspects in an organized high-end retail crime ring on Tuesday.)

The interview with McCarty has been shortened for clarity and length.

What is your approach on public safety? 

I think we need smart laws that make sense, are balanced, promote public safety, but also support fairness. We can have accountability for people that cross the line and break the laws, but also have a criminal justice and sentencing system that focuses on redemption, and allowing people to serve their sentences and get second chances.

Do you think the perception of California being soft on crime is accurate?

We have 100,000 people in our state prison system, tens of thousands in county jails. Clearly people are being prosecuted on a regular basis.

I think there is this perception that there are certain crimes, especially like retail theft, that are potentially slipping through the cracks. People stealing from Targets and running out with stuff. People see it with their own two eyes, in the stores, on TikTok videos, social media. They see it when they try to buy a razor blade and it’s locked up. Those things are real, and that’s where we’re at the forefront, looking to address them, but not overcorrect.

Some suggest sending Prop. 47 back to voters and lowering the criminal threshold will help curb retail theft. Do you agree?

I think that proposition has some elements that go a little too far. I am not averse to going back to the voters to address some of the shortcomings with respect to retail thefts, drug possession and drug sales.

Do you view the state’s drug crisis as a public safety or public health issue?

I’m interested in that conversation as far as how do we push people to treatment? Before Prop 47, when people were arrested for drug possession, or possession for sale, it was a felony. Now it’s a misdemeanor. There’s very little consequence, so people aren’t going to treatment as much. There’s this great debate, do you push people to treatment or do you have it all voluntary? I think sometimes people need to be kind of pushed. Because the alternative is not working out here in our streets.

Did your predecessor give you any advice?

(Jones-Sawyer) just wanted to make sure that I knew I was getting myself into, and talked about balance is the key. But he’s served his mark and led us through an important era. It’s really important work and that should not be dismissed.

Meet more key lawmakers: Read my interviews with other new Assembly committee chairpersons: Alex Lee, a Milpitas Democrat, and Chris Ward, a San Diego Democrat.

Under the stewardship of then-Gov. Jerry Brown, California overhauled the way it funded its public schools. Eleven years later, researchers and superintendents say the funding system has been a boon, but that more needs to be done if California wants all students to succeed.

As CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones writes, instead of forcing school districts to rely mostly on widely varying local property taxes, the state enacted a policy in 2013 to give districts a base amount of money calculated by attendance, with extra funds provided for high-needs students.

Known as the Local Control Funding Formula, the change gave schools more money and flexibility, which led to improved reading and math scores across all grades, higher graduation rates and fewer suspensions.

• Brown, at a Learning Policy Institute conference in December: “You need goals, you need standards, but you have to let local people do their thing.”

But with the challenges facing students today, especially after the learning losses during the pandemic, educators and advocates argue that the state should boost the base amount so schools can invest in closing the achievement gap for Black and Latino students. Citing the rise in chronic absenteeism, some superintendents would also prefer the funding system to be based on enrollment, not attendance.

And Mike Kirst, who served as president of the State Board of Education during Brown’s time as governor, said he’d like to see the formula take into account regional costs of living.

• Kirst: “It’s effective but needs some updating. The idea back then was that it would never be the last word.”

To learn more about the school funding formula and whether it should be revamped, read Carolyn’s story.

California uses a carrot-and-stick approach to health insurance: It offers generous subsidies and Covered California for those who can’t afford private coverage. But if you don’t get insurance, it’s one of four states (plus D.C.) that imposes a financial penalty. How many Californians get dinged and how much? Find out from CalMatters health reporter Ana B. Ibarra.