California's June primary election saw a record number of mail-in ballots rejected, with nearly 150,000 votes deemed invalid. This figure represents 1.73% of all mail ballots cast and marks the highest rejection rate in recent statewide primaries. The trend highlights potential issues within the state's expansive voting system, which aims to increase accessibility by mailing ballots to all registered voters and allowing them to arrive up to seven days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on time.
The primary driver for ballot rejection was lateness, with over 93,000 ballots disqualified for arriving after the deadline. This is a significant increase compared to previous primaries, with approximately 70,000 rejected for lateness in 2022 and about 76,000 in 2024.
Voting experts suggest that the issue may stem not from when ballots reach election offices, but from when they are postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service. Changes in mail processing, including the consolidation of operations into larger centers, could be contributing to delays that affect timely postmarking. Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, noted that ballots rejected due to lateness are primarily due to being postmarked too late, rather than arriving too late.
The rise in late ballot rejections has prompted scrutiny, particularly as many voters reportedly waited until the final days to cast their ballots. Mindy Romero, director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy, stated that the increase demands an investigation into the underlying causes.
Concerns over postal delays impacting election mail have reached the federal level. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals recently allowed the USPS to proceed with a proposed rule requiring states to provide voter lists and serialized ballot barcodes before mailing federal ballots, a measure proponents argue will enhance election safeguards.
The rate of ballot rejections varied by county, with Tulare County experiencing the highest rejection rate at 3.52%, followed by Alpine and Merced counties at 3.36%.
Beyond lateness, other reasons for ballot rejection included approximately 44,000 ballots where voter signatures did not match records on file, and over 8,300 ballots that were not signed by the voter. Additional reasons included voters casting more than one ballot, missing signatures on envelopes, or returning multiple ballots together. The data did not specify the political affiliation of voters whose ballots were rejected.
California's vote-counting process, which can take weeks to finalize, has frequently drawn criticism. This contrasts with states like Florida and Texas, where election results are typically tabulated more rapidly. Following the primary, former President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of California's election system, and the Justice Department initiated an investigation into Los Angeles County elections. Despite concerns, there is no evidence of widespread fraud in mail voting, though investigating voter fraud has been a focus for the Trump administration.