Politics
California’s much-scrutinized voting methods are meant to increase participation. It isn’t working.
By Titus Wu
Published July 4, 2026, 4:31 p.m. ET
California counties completed their final official vote counts for the June primary this week — but the turnout figures come as President Donald Trump and other skeptics are lambasting the state’s drawn-out voting process.
Statewide turnout reached 40.8%, according to preliminary figures from the California Secretary of State. That’s an increase from the 2024 primary at 35% and in 2022 at 33.2%.
Even with that short-term improvement, experts note that participation has not reached the levels seen in some past primaries since 2000 and well below pre-1980s when primary turnout was consistently above 40%.
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That’s despite California Democrats heavily expanding mail-in voting in 2016 in the name of increasing turnout and voter access. Every voter receives a mail-in ballot that can arrive seven days late if postmarked on time.
“We haven’t seen significant jumps in turnout,” Director Mindy Romero of the Center for Inclusive Democracy told the Associated Press. “We still have very significant disparity in turnout with race and ethnicity. The numbers don’t lie.”
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