WTF? As many as 3 million CA ballots "unprocessed"?

[pat_k]

Los Angeles Times: "Wednesday's big question: How many uncounted California ballots?"
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-california-primary-wednesday-s-big-question-how-many-1465375928-htmlstory.html

The independent Target Book, a publication that handicaps congressional and legislative races, called it "probable" that as many as 3 million ballots could remain uncounted by time Tuesday night ended. And traditionally, said the analysts, those ballots tend to have come from Democrats, young and Latino voters.

CA SoS: Unprocessed Ballots Status
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/unprocessed-ballots-status/

For the most up-to-date vote counts before the statewide certified results are published, contact a county elections office directly.

When as many as 3 million mail-in and provisional ballots have yet to be "processed," why haven't news outlets noted that the so-called "results" they are reporting are partial? (i.e., based on something like 65% of the ballots cast.)

Wouldn't it be nice if the LA Times had bothered to call the counties as directed by SoS site, instead of just reporting "but there was no official word on how many remained"? Guess making all those calls was just too much of a hassle. It's not like it was an election anyone was paying any attention to.

P.S. Just curious. Does anyone know if NPPs (No Party Preference) people are able to vote by mail? Or do they have to go to polling place to get a "Democratic crossover" ballot?

[Buzz cook]

1. CNN mentioned

That it usually took quite a while for California to complete is count. They didn't give a reason.

Heard something similar on Maddow

[pat_k]

2. Well that's something I guess.

But saying "it takes awhile to complete the count" doesn't exactly capture how truly partial the results being reported are.

[CreekDog]

10. it takes a month to count every ballot received

The Secretary of State explains the deadlines and schedules for reporting partial and final certified counts.

It need not be a mystery, check out the website and the info is all there for you, begging for you to read it.

http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/democratic/

[pat_k]

16. Process schedule doesn't convey...

... the size of the percentage expected to be counted in the days after the election. Most states have such schedules and caveats, but the difference between election day results and final certified results aren't typically 35% or so.

[SoCalNative]

3. NPPs were able to request crossover ballots

by mail if they did it by the deadline. Otherwise they had to request on election day at their polling place.

[pat_k]

5. Thanks!

[GReedDiamond]

4. No Party Preference people had to request a Democratic ballot...

...whether by mail-in vote or at the polling place.

To vote by mail, they had to request their ballot several weeks before June 7.

Voting in person at a polling place, they had to request the Dem ballot.

[pat_k]

6. Thanks!

[CreekDog]

11. no they could request by mail before May 31st, not several weeks

you are confusing two things:

for permanent vote by mail voters, all automatically receive the presidential primary ballot for their party about a month ahead of time.

if non affiliateds wanted a Democratic ballot to be automatically mailed, they had to request that before all ballots were mailed.

but if they didn't, they could simply ask for it by May 31st.

the early "deadline" was just for folks that wanted the Dem ballot a month ahead of time, that wasn't the final deadline.

[ucrdem]

7. Scroll down. Latest update from Wed. afternoon says 500,000 to count, 1.4 million counted.

So 75% counted in less than 24 hours which isn't bad. But don't let reality get in the way of a good CT.

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk Dean Logan estimates that the county has more than 500,000 ballots left to tally from Tuesday's primary election. More than 1.4 million ballots have been tallied in the county so far, he said in a news release.

[ThinkCritically]

9. Thats just in Los Angeles :)

[CreekDog]

12. so they're not counting fast enough for you?

do you realize that they allow 5 days for ballots postmarked on Election Day to be received?

or do you expect those to be counted before they arrive?

[pat_k]

15. No. I was just surprised.

I didn't realize such a large portion of ballots were cast by mail in CA, and didn't catch any news reports before the election that made it clear it would be more like "election week" than "election night."

NY Times results page and others report 100% counted. They don't make it clear that that just means that 100% of the precincts have reported partial results... and that some unknown number of ballots are in the mail.

So, I was surprised. And am feeling a little stupid about it.

[pat_k]

13. Thanks! Looks like that's just Los Angeles County.

Thanks so much for pointing out the later entry.

Looks like that's just LA. I think they account for something like 30% of the registered voters, so, extrapolating, sounds like about 1.6 million remain statewide. Certainly better than 3 million.

[ThinkCritically]

8. This is how it works in California...

I explained this last night as they were counting. A huge majority of voters mail in their ballots. Many of the initial reports were early voters. People were able to mail out their ballots up until voting day as long as it was post marked. So there are potentially 5-6 days worth of people mailing in their ballots that didn't get counted yet. And imagine how long this process is going to take. They have to hand count each ballot because you are required to sign the ballot or else it won't be counted. There are up to 3 million still out there in the mail system. Only a small portion of California voters vote at the polls.

And to answer the question about NPPs, yes they can vote by mail. Many were waiting for their democratic ballot to arrive. A huge portion of them received non-partisan ballots which didn't allow them to vote for a presidential candidate. They had to surrender those ballots and wait for a new one to arrive in the mail before they could send out the proper democratic crossover ballot. So yes, there are probably many NPP voters ballots still in the mail as well. And they could also trade their non-partisan ballots at the county elections office or at their polling location.

[pat_k]

14. Thanks so much.

I'm feeling a little stupid. I somehow missed the fact that it would be more like "election week" (or "election month&quot than "election night." I just didn't catch any news reports before the election that made this clear. (And missed your posts last night.)

[felix_numinous]

17. ALL the votes need to be counted

no matter how annoying that is to those ready to push so many people out of their representation.

[pat_k]

18. I checked back to see how the reported count was going.

http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/democratic/

In about 24 hours 66,722 added to count. Seems like a kinda feeble pace to me.

Democratic presidential primary ballots counted:

3,482,752 as of June 8, 6:34 p.m

3,549,474 as of June 9, 7:31 p.m

[ContinentalOp]

19. They will be. They have a month to count before the election is certified.

It's not going to change the result any though. It's over.

[BainsBane]

22. They are being counted

But the fact they accept mail in ballots postmarked through election day means they aren't going to be on your TV set when you want them to be.

There was a lot more to vote on than Bernie vs. Hillary. I understand the concept that people might vote and have it not be about Bernie is entirely foreign to many, but it has happened for a very long time and will continue to happen. There are all kinds of local races as well.

[BainsBane]

20. Everyone can vote by mail

Regardless of party preference or no party preference. And because CA accepts ballots postmarked on election day, it means it takes a while to get the final count. It's not a conspiracy to deny Bernie his birthright as president of the United States.

Mail in ballots are more likely to be seniors.

[Live and Learn]

21. They can vote by mail but many didn't understand the process.

They had to request a crossover ballot and many missed the information and ended up sending the ballot they received in that had no presidential candidates. In addition, I canvassed the day before and many that had requested crossover ballots still hadn't received them. Many others were listed as having received a mail in ballot and had never gotten one at all so they would have to go to the polls and vote with a provisional ballot. Those ones will be counted (for those that really went in) but it will take time.

But the worst of the voter suppression was having the AP announce falsely that Hillary had already one it before the polls even opened.

[BainsBane]

23. So much for the great enthusiasm for Bernie

That his supporters were suddenly deterred from voting because of an AP story.
It's been obvious he would lose since March 15. Even Sanders campaign staff knew that, as the recent article in Politico shows.
He continued because he had so much money. He outspent Clinton 2-1. He had more than adequate resources to devote to organizing and informing voters. He chose to instead spend money on advertising and arena events. His campaign director for California quit because Bernie refused to invest in advertising. His "revolution" involved relegating voters to an audience, adoring fans, and far less to the kind of organization necessary to win elections, much less enact the sort of changes he promised.

Clinton spent less, organized months in advance and ran a vote by mail campaign. That included helping voters figure out how to vote. The only thing that stopped Bernie from doing the same thing was Bernie.

[Live and Learn]

24. You might be number 1. You do have some competition though. nt