Newsom Urges County Clerks to Count Ballots Quickly to Prevent ‘Election Lies’

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants California’s 58 county clerks to count election ballots accurately but faster to prevent “election lies from taking hold.”

Doing so will maintain confidence in the state’s elections and and quash threats of violence against the clerks, Newsom said.

A tweet on Tuesday from Newsom’s press office publicizing the letter cited President Donald Trump’s repeated but unsubstantiated claims of stolen elections as the motivation for California to count ballots faster.

“With Trump escalating attacks on free and fair elections, @CAGovernor Gavin Newsom just sent a letter to election officials in all 58 counties — thanking them and urging rapid, accurate counting to protect confidence in the results,” the post on X stated.

California’s notoriously slow counting of ballots has provided fodder for conspiracy theorists to question the integrity of the state’s elections. However, state officials and county clerks have defended the laborious process as necessary to ensure accuracy while also providing residents multiple pathways to voting.

“I know the value of being fast for some folks,” California Secretary of State Shirley Weber told CalMatters last month. “For me, accuracy is far more important.”

Newsom’s Goal: Ballots Counted in 13 Days

In the letter, Newsom he cited recently passed legislation “aimed at shortening the timeframe to finish counting ballots from 30 days to 13 days.”

Wrote Newsom: “It is critical that we take full advantage of these tools to accurately count every lawfully cast ballot as quickly as possible to mitigate what are likely to be unprecedented and misleading attempts to undermine faith in the integrity of our election.”

California’s turtle-like speed of posting results in close contested races has been criticized mostly by Republicans, but of late Democrats have complained, too.

In addition, Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, a Republican challenging Weber’s re-election bid, has made it a central campaign issue.

“I am not one of those Republicans who is going to be out there telling you that unless a Republican wins, the election got stolen,” Wagner told CalMatters. “What I am saying is I believe folks on either side of the political aisle and in the middle question the integrity.”

Read Newsom’s Letter

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