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.
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He claimed that California leaders, including Newsom, wanted to make it easier for people to cast “last-minute ballots” by mail rather than focus more on counting ballots quickly.
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.
Newsom wrote in an X post featuring the video: “There is a lot of misinformation floating around about California’s election — including from the President. This explainer is worth a watch. And yes, for the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too.”
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Newsom didn’t mention any ways he, as governor, and the state Assembly, which has a Democrat supermajority, could implement fixes to speed up the vote count process.
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.
There is a lot of misinformation floating around about California’s election — including from the President.
This explainer is worth a watch.
And yes, for the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too. https://t.co/pctXIVnUK1
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) June 4, 2026
THE ELECTIONS ARE RIGGED IN CALIFORNIA.!!
The Voters are being CHEATED. 🤯🤬🤬🤬 pic.twitter.com/SB3bvDFuDf— Rhino80 🦅🇺🇸 (@rhinosirles) June 4, 2026
CALIFORNIA stealing elections doesn’t just hurt California. The fraudulent representatives votes on legislation shape all of America. EXPOSE and arrest @POTUS @FBIDirectorKash https://t.co/3yAyjprOKl
— Star S.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@DominguezH31015) June 4, 2026
“You guys wanna see how safe and secure mail in voting is?”
American receives 4 mail in ballots and 3 of them are for people who don’t even live at the address
Insane pic.twitter.com/hiFNHjaExt
— TONY™ (@TONYxTWO) June 4, 2026
“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.
JUST IN: Nithya Raman soars to a 71% chance of advancing to the LA mayoral runoff, as officials continue processing mail-in ballots. pic.twitter.com/P2rkmeWMU9
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) June 4, 2026
“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.
“Election prediction markets should be taken with a grain of salt, but the fact that we are so far from election day and we are still so far from resolution is, frankly, shameful,” said Stepman.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
