Famed political pollster Nate Silver lambasted California's lengthy ballot-counting process in a series of pointed X posts, where he compared the system to “failed state s**t.”
“The fact that California elections often can’t be resolved for weeks is kind of insane and not common in other electoral systems around the world,” he wrote early Tuesday morning, hours ahead of when the Golden State’s polling places were set to open for primary elections.
“Like honestly ‘it’s going to take us several weeks to tell you who won the election’ is failed state shit and should be much more stigmatized,” added Silver, who famously predicted 49 of 50 states’ presidential picks during the 2008 election. “The fact that it’s tolerated is bad too a textbook example of learned helplessness,” the libertarian-leaning statistician went on.
While most results are expected to be called after polls close Tuesday night or by Wednesday morning, it can take time for tighter races or smaller local contests to reach their final tally. State law allows counties 30 days to process ballots, including mail-in votes that are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at county election offices no later than a week after.
That backlog of mail-in votes can be significant, given how California began sending absentee ballots to all registered voters during the COVID lockdown. While Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) likely doesn’t share Silver’s “failed state” sentiment, he did voice concerns about problems that can arise due to California’s extended vote-counting process.
In a letter sent to all 58 county election officials last month, the Democratic presidential hopeful urged officials to “count every lawfully cast ballot” as “accurately” and “quickly as possible” in order to combat any “mis- and disinformation” that may materialize in the meantime.
