California Official Offers Ridiculous Excuse For State’s Inability To Quickly Declare Election Winners

Democrat California Secretary of State Shirley Weber took to social media Wednesday to say the reason why the state takes weeks to process election votes is due to the fact that it would cost up to an estimated $110,000 in each county per election.

Among a handful of states that tend to lag behind in Election Day ballot counting, California took five weeks after the 2024 November election to officially count all ballots and declare results. With some legislators in the state signaling interest in speeding up the process, Weber posted on X why costs increase, saying faster results wouldn’t “increase accuracy,” but just make “it more costly.”

“To speed up the counting of ballots that arrive after Election Day and deliver a full same-day tally, one California county alone would need to expand to 950 polling places, driving costs upwards to $110,000 per election. Faster counting doesn’t increase accuracy— it only makes it more costly,” Weber posted.

In December 2024, Democrat California Assemblymember Marc Berman introduced AB5, which seeks to require election officials to “commence the canvass for an election no later than the Thursday following the election,” making it within 10 days of the election and additionally ensuring that the canvass is open to the public. With the legislation making its rounds on California’s senate floor, Berman has argued the need for a faster response time while making sure ballots are still counted “accurately.”

However, in April, Republican state legislators joined together to introduce the Election Results Accountability Act, sponsored by six of California’s nine Republican members of Congress. The bill, unlike AB5, would require California to count and publicly report a minimum of 90% of the ballots in federal elections within 72 hours of polls closing.