The California Post visited the county’s 144,000-square-foot ballot processing facility on Thursday, and what they found has concerned many.
The NY Post reporters saw dozens of vacant workstations as the vote-count totals sprawled throughout California and Los Angeles.
Advertisement
The growing pressure to process the hundreds of thousands of remaining ballots seemed to be at odds with the scene at the warehouse.
Just 77,521 more ballots have been processed since the June 2 election night, according to county officials’ announcement on Wednesday night. However, an estimated 713,180 ballots remain unprocessed.
However, a lot of the facility seemed understaffed when The Post visited. Workstations in rows were vacant.
There were several empty chair sections.
About 25 bins of ballots appeared ready for processing in one area where election workers review ballots that scanners are unable to automatically read.
Advertisement
However, no employees were seated at nearby desks, according to the NY Post reporters.
The Post reporters saw roughly 75 workers in another area where they prepare ballots for counting and open envelopes, even though the space could hold more than twice that number.
CA governor frontrunner Steve Hilton said Thursday he would urge Governor Gavin Newsom to create an Emergency Election Count Accelerator Corps, mobilizing state personnel and rapid response teams to assist counties struggling with major ballot-counting backlogs.
“California is the laughing stock of the nation when it comes to election reporting. We are the fourth-largest economy in the world, home to Silicon Valley and some of the most advanced technology on earth, yet government bureaucrats need a month to count fewer than 10 million ballots,” Hilton said.
Hilton intended to present a strategy that would provide counties with more personnel and resources to expedite the counting of ballots without interfering with election laws, security procedures, or vote-counting guidelines.
The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office is under scrutiny because Los Angeles County spends almost $336 million a year on it.
The department has more than 1,100 budgeted positions, according to county budget records.
According to county records, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan heads the department, manages the elections, and earns $448,179 annually.
By all standards, the election process in Los Angeles County is massive.
President Donald Trump also aimed at California’s slow count with a social media post.
“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,” he posted on Truth Social.
“There is a lot of misinformation floating around about California’s election — including from the President,” the post read, while sharing an explainer video from CNN on the counting efforts, Gavin Newsom’s office posted on X in a response.
“And yes, for the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too,” the post concluded.
The voter rolls in Los Angeles County exceed 5.8 million people, more registered voters than the populations of most US states.
The Post asked the Registrar’s Office how many employees are currently assigned to ballot processing, whether staffing vacancies exist, why numerous workstations appeared empty despite the large backlog, and whether additional staffing could accelerate the count.
When at the facility, The Post asked an election center staff member about the rows of unused workstations despite a massive ballot backlog.
The employee warned the NY Post reporters not to be “fooled by what you see.”
When pressed to elaborate, the staff member offered no further explanation and walked away.
Several other states that also held elections on Tuesday have nearly finished counting.
New Jersey has reported roughly 93% of ballots counted, while New Mexico and Montana are approaching 98%.
The upcoming update on the ballot count in Los Angeles County is expected Thursday evening, but with more than 700,000 ballots still outstanding, experts say it could be weeks before voters know which candidates will advance to the November ballot.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
