California's Slow Ballot Counting Process Draws Criticism from New York Times Editorial Board

The New York Times editorial board published a piece criticizing California's ballot counting process, which remains ongoing weeks after the June 2 primary election. The editorial argues that California's approach is unnecessarily slow compared to other democracies and large U.S. states like Texas, Florida, Michigan, and Virginia. The state's current system allows mail-in ballots to arrive up to seven days after Election Day if postmarked by Election Day—a change implemented in 2015—and uses a thorough signature verification process. The Times editorial board called for a national law establishing Election Day as the final deadline for mail-in ballots and urged Congress to push states to count all ballots on Election Day. Governor Newsom's office acknowledged the concern, stating the governor wishes the vote count moved faster. Political analyst Nate Silver also criticized the lengthy counting process as abnormal for democratic systems.