Why Is it Taking So Long for California to Count Ballots? And What's the Deal With Ballot Harvesting?
By Jennifer Van Laar | 2:00 PM on November 16, 2022
As regular readers know, I have an illogical love for my home state of California, and despite the loud and persistent calls from many conservatives to abandon it, I steadfastly refuse. Still, I am not under any delusions about the efficacy of our government or the sensibility of our laws – and they tend to get more stupid as the years go by.
Right now, the country’s waiting for California to finish counting ballots from an election held over a week ago, and House races called just last night determined GOP control. Why is it taking so long? What’s with this ballot harvesting thing? Does it mean just going door-to-door and asking for ballots from unsuspecting, low-information voters? And what does it mean to “cure” a ballot?
Believe it or not, California’s election process wasn’t always so lengthy or chaotic. How did we get here? In 2016 a trio of bills were passed that, together, significantly changed how California’s election process works:
SB 450, Voter’s Choice Act
required mail ballots to be sent to all voters in a participating county
required elections officials to forward ballots they receive from voters in other counties to the appropriate county
eliminated precinct-based polling places in favor of county-wide “vote centers” and 10 days of early in-person voting
AB 1921, legalized ballot harvesting statewide
Allows any person a voter designates to return their ballot for them
Ballot harvester can hold a ballot for up to 72 hours before delivering it to elections officials
No training or accreditation required; no registry of ballot harvesters or chain of custody
Harvester is supposed to sign their name on the ballot, but ballot will be counted even if the harvester’s signature is missing
AB 1461, Motor Voter Act – automatically registers people to vote when they interact with the DMV unless they opt out
much more
https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2022/11/16/why-is-it-taking-so-long-for-california-to-count-ballots-and-whats-the-deal-with-ballot-harvesting-n659147