Trump Alleges CA Primary Election Theft Amid Delayed Mail Ballot Count
President Donald Trump on Thursday accused “Dumocrats” of stealing California’s elections amid delayed vote counts and said that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the situation.
Trump made his comments while the state counted the votes from Tuesday’s jungle primaries for California governor and Los Angeles mayor.
State officials warned that tallying the mail-in ballots for the elections may take weeks, the Washington Times reported.
“The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS,” Trump posted on Truth Social early Thursday.
“There’s BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks. Under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting DELAY???” Trump posted shortly after his first one.
“Look what’s happening in California, the Dumocrats, right before our very eyes, are stealing the Vote. I hope the Republicans are watching so that they can finally pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!” Trump posted Thursday afternoon.
Trump then posted about the Save America Act, noting that it requires all voters to show photo ID; all voters must show proof of U.S. citizenship; restrictions on mail-in ballots; no men in women’s sports; and no transgender surgeries for children.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is defending the insanely slow pace of counting ballots from California’s primary elections on Tuesday as critics claim the process reeks of corruption.
Newsom’s office posted an “explainer” video featuring CNN correspondent Elex Michaelson defending the state’s slow count as baked into California law.
In making that point, Michaelson’s video appeared critical of Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas—two states that have been recipients of California residents and companies.
He said those leaders are “focused more on counting ballots quickly” than on giving residents “more time to decide” who they wanted to vote for at the last minute.
The outgoing California governor’s video and statement were blasted online, with many social media users claiming California Dems have created a system that makes it much easier to cheat to their advantage.
“Americans should expect, at a minimum, to have elections that are free and fair, and results that are delivered promptly. But California is taking its laid-back reputation too far, failing to deliver its election results in a timely manner and creating the perception that they are neither free nor fair,” writes Jarrett Stepman for The Daily Signal on Thursday.
“Slothful election results have plagued California for years since it made wholesale changes to its election system in 2016. It has mass mail-in ballots that can be counted post-election and allows for an extremely slow pace of counting,” he continued.
“Proponents of the system say this makes their elections more ‘secure’ and accessible,” Stepman added.
While elections in California certainly are “accessible,” as the above video from a California resident demonstrated, claiming they are secure is more than a stretch, per Stepman:
As of now, the Los Angeles mayoral runoff would seem to be down to incumbent Democrat Karen Bass and the surging upstart Republican Spencer Pratt, with leftist candidate Nithya Raman taking the third spot. That would cut Raman out of the general election.
Raman cried on election night and certainly seemed convinced that she’d lost.
But since election day, new batches of mail-in votes have continued to trickle in for Raman. Even more curiously, electoral prediction markets have swung strongly in her favor.
“Why would it be a surprise that many are calling foul?” Stepman asked, noting it’s been “days” since the primary election and only Raman is surging.
