CA election results may take a while

There are only two more days to vote in California, and more than 7.6 million Californians have cast their ballots. But the counting will last for days, if not weeks, before news outlets declare all the winners or candidates concede. 

The delays and uncertainty — which have grown since California started sending mail ballots to all voters — can sow doubts or even conspiracy theories. So state and local election officials are trying to reassure voters that their ballots are safe against cyber and other attacks and will be counted.

To bring more transparency and build public trust in the count, the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation is launching a new project that, in seven swing congressional districts, will track how many ballots have been counted, how many ballots remain to be tallied and the margin between the two candidates. The updates will start Tuesday and end Dec. 5.

• Kim Alexander, the foundation’s president, in a statement: “We have more competitive races and narrower margins in California today than we used to. In some contests, practically every single ballot must be counted before a winner can be determined.” 

A reminder: While there are some mishaps, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in California that would change the election results.

One hotbed for election threats and disinformation is Shasta County. In June, county supervisors hired a prosecutor with no election administration experience to replace the county’s outgoing elections chief. CalMatters’ Sergio Olmos visited last week and reports that the presence of self-appointed election observers has led some elections workers to quit.

The observers spend their days at the county’s registrar of voters office on the lookout for any misdeeds related to voter fraud. Though voters are legally allowed to enter the office to observe the election process, staffers report that the observers have been following workers into their breakroom and attempting to open doors to see inside their offices.

Their intensity pushed Tanner Johnson to quit after working as an account clerk for more than a year. He says that 10 of the registrar’s 21 employees have also left.

• Johnson: “They want to catch us in a lie, so they’ll try to trick you into saying something. A lot of times they’ll be secretly videotaping you or recording you. … I make $19.64 an hour. I’m not going to be a martyr for $19.60 an hour.”

Read more about Shasta County election staffers quitting in Sergio’s story.

Let’s dive into some more election news:

• Independent expenditures: Spending by independent expenditure committees funded by corporations and labor groups in California legislative races has steadily increased over the years, totaling nearly $100 million in 2024 alone, writes CalMatters data reporter Jeremia Kimelman. Unlike direct contributions to candidates, there is no limit on how much these committees can spend, and the biggest spender is the ride-hailing service company Uber. Its political action committee has reported spending more than $7 million, including $443,000 toward Democrat Sade Elhawary, who is running for the competitive 57th Assembly District. Learn more about these outside groups, including the other top spenders, in Jeremia’s story.

• New poll: Supporters of Proposition 32 to raise the minimum wage are finding hope in the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies survey released Friday that shows 47% of likely voters in support, 39% against and 14% still undecided, compared to 37% in favor, 36% opposed and 27% unsure in its late September poll. On other props, the UC Berkeley poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, found continued strong support (60% in favor) for Prop. 36, which would increase some criminal penalties, and growing opposition (45%) to Prop. 33 (compared to just 35% in favor), which would allow cities to expand rent control. 

• Voter registration: The final numbers for the November election show that Democrats make up 46% of California’s registered voters, Republicans account for 25% and no party preference for 22%. The total of 22.6 million registered voters is an all-time high, about 548,000 more than at the same point in 2020.

• Community college races: In Southern California, debates over “culture war” issues, such as displaying the LGBTQ+ Pride flag on campuses, are fueling big bucks for some community college board elections. As CalMatters’ Adam Echelman and Erica Yee explain, in Santa Clarita’s College of the Canyons, for example, two trustee candidates and their political action committees have raised more than $450,000. Both committees agree that trustees shouldn’t focus on partisan issues (“the race is about students,” said one committee member), but they claim their opponents are doing just that. Read more about these college board races in Adam and Erica’s story.

During a time of seemingly endless rounds of tech layoffs in Silicon Valley, a bit of good news: On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that a major federal research center for semiconductor technology will be located in Sunnyvale. 

The Design and Collaboration Facility will serve as the headquarters for the National Semiconductor Technology Center and Natcast, the non-profit organization that oversees the center. The facility will play a vital role in “semiconductor design research, workforce development, investment, and collaboration across the entire semiconductor value chain,” according to the federal department. 

• Newsom, in a recorded statement: “It’s so appropriate that this new headquarters does exist in the state of California. Because (of) our creativity, because we have more scientists, engineers, Nobel laureates, more patents emanating out of California than any state in the nation. This is a big deal because it reinforces California’s status as a leader, as an innovator.”

Over the next 10 years the facility is also expected to spur more than 200 jobs and $1 billion in research funding, according to Newsom’s office. It will be one of three research facilities for CHIPS for America, a federal initiative under President Joe Biden’s administration to boost semiconductor development and manufacturing in the U.S. in competition with China.

It’s a win for California, but hardly enough to reverse the nearly 50,000 tech job losses in the Bay Area alone since 2022. The whole sector has been hemorrhaging positions, including at major companies such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, as well as smaller startups. Inflation, overhiring during the pandemic and investments in artificial intelligence have been cited as possible reasons for the layoffs.