Can someone explain to me why it takes so long to count ballots in California?

[OnlinePoker]

Some of the House races are still in the mid 30% counted. I'm used to Canada where everything is pretty much done and dusted by 3 or 4 hours after the polls close.

[JohnSJ]

1. We are a large state, and mail in votes are accepted up to 7 days after Election Day, as

long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day.

[Silent3]

4. In and of itself, having a large state shouldn't make any difference at all

The number of available election workers should scale up along with the number of voters.

[LenaBaby61]

5. REALLY THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[LenaBaby61]

6. REALLY THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[SomedayKindaLove]

2. I've been saying since 2000

That the US should hire Canadians to count all of our election votes. They seem to do it fairly quickly, and by hand if I’m not mistaken.

[Retrograde]

13. How many races are on their ballots?

In my state, California, we like to load up with as many issues and local races as possible. A five-page, multiple columns per page, ballot is hard to tally by hand (and machines actually do a much more accurate job with more complex ballots).

[iemanja]

3. Does CA have a uniform system across the country?

The US has many different systems, and some time their sweet time.

[Demovictory9]

7. I heard they stop counting for days and count absentee on a schedule like Tuesdays and friday

Crazy..pay overtime..count 24 hrs per day

[PJMcK]

9. Got a source?

Thanks, in advance.

[usonian]

8. I always drop off the mail-in ballot at a secure place, but ...

not having used a voting machine in ages, I guess that machines and precincts have their protocols, and some must take time, in addition to the mail-in delays.

Do people still use voting machines?

As for Canada, I suspect that Canada has a stronger federal government, unlike the “states rights” sort of mess we have here. Roe, gerrymandering and attacks on voting rights.

We need the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

P.S. I don’t understand why everyone in CA doesn’t use the mailed ballot. It gives you plenty of time to think things through. I seem to recall that the last time I used a voting machine, I brought a cheat sheet with me ANYWAY, and that was basically a sample ballot.

[Mister Ed]

14. Actually, I think Canada has a less-strong federal government than the U.S.

...and that the individual provinces have greater autonomy than U.S. states do.

I'm not very knowledgeable on the topic, though. It sounds as though the OP is Canadian, and might be able to enlighten us both.

[usonian]

15. Maybe there are important standards adopted nationally? I don't know.

Canada didn’t have a civil war, despite the autonomy of the provinces that I recall, though some tried!

I’ll leave it to the OP to clarify, if possible.

[chowder66]

10. Here's an article that explains...

More at the link....

With roughly 39 million people calling it home, California is the most populous state in the union. It’s also home to the most eligible voters by a sizeable margin.

One of the challenges of having such a huge voting body is that it can take quite a while to collect and count each and every vote.

But California’s population isn’t the only reason that it takes so long for all votes to be tabulated after an election.

For one, there are multiple ways that Californians can legally vote; gone away are the days where every person looking to cast their ballot had to wait in a long line at their nearest polling station.


https://ktla.com/news/local-news/why-does-it-take-california-so-long-to-count-ballots/

[Retrograde]

11. Some reasons

lots of people, ballots are accepted for many days (it's varied from 3 to 14 recently) after election day as long as they're postmarked by 8PM on election day, and California tries to count every ballot cast: if a ballot is unreadable by machine and has to be remade, or if a voter has a problem at the polls and casts a provisional ballot - all of those are processed to determine if they are indeed valid. The state has a 30 day counting period built into its process, and as much as the news media would like instant gratification the county election officials do the time-consuming work of making sure every valid ballot gets counted.

When you say Canada is done in hours, does this mean that every valid ballot cast is actually counted, or that enough have been counted to satisfy the media?

[Hekate]

12. Our mail-in ballots alone came to almost 4.5 million just now. I don't know why we take longer

…than, for instance tiny Wyoming or North Dakota, but I do know I would like every vote counted in my state.