What to do about slow CA election results

The complaints and questions surface after every election: It takes California way too long to count all the votes. It’s unfair to candidates and their supporters in close races to make them wait. Is there something nefarious going on?

It’s all happening again, further eroding public confidence in elections: In California’s 45th Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel and Democratic challenger Derek Tran are neck and neck, with Tran leading by a mere 314 votes as of late Tuesday. But because Steel was leading by more than 11,000 votes days after the election, some congressional Republicans are decrying the flip as evidence of Democrats “stealing the seat.”

And while Assemblymember Joe Patterson easily won his bid for reelection, the Rocklin Republican is taking issue with being sworn in for his second term on Dec. 2, a day before county elections officials must certify the results and nearly two weeks before the Secretary of State’s deadline. 

In 2022 Christy Holstege went through the Assembly’s freshmen orientation, only to find out later that her opponent, Republican Assemblymember Greg Wallis of Rancho Mirage, won after all the votes were tallied.

Now, their rematch is one of five legislative races that still haven’t been called — and one of the contests being tracked by the California Voter Foundation. Its goal: To rebuild public trust in the vote count by showing which candidate is leading in close contests day by day, explains CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu.

Its tracker provides updates on 11 competitive U.S. House races and seven state legislative races. It also tracks candidates’ vote share, and both the number of votes that are counted and remain uncounted. 

• Kim Alexander, foundation president: “If someone came along later and said, ‘Something hinky is going on here,’ there would be a reliable source of information people could turn to to see how the vote count evolved over time.”

The reasons why California takes so long to count votes are varied. But it doesn’t always have to be this way, says Alexander. For instance, the state could allow voters to opt out of vote-by-mail; provide more staffing and better equipment to county election officials; and invest in more voter outreach that emphasizes submitting ballots sooner. 

Read more on the foundation’s tracker in Stella’s story.

Prop. 32 defeated: The statewide ballot measure to increase the hourly minimum wage from $16 to $18 failed, with 50.8% of voters rejecting the proposal. AP called the contest Tuesday, a day after opponents declared a “historic” victory given previous successful attempts at raising the wage. But the Yes on Prop. 32 campaign said its efforts “laid essential groundwork for future wage advocacy” and that the “fight for fair wages is far from over.”

Voter turnout: While votes are still being tallied, it appears that turnout this year has dropped from the 2020 peak, closer to the average for presidential elections in California. Based on current counts of about 16 million votes cast, that would mean as many as 1.7 million fewer than in November 2020, according to an analysis by the Public Policy Institute of California. That would be a nearly 10% drop in turnout, but the total number of votes cast would still be far more than the 14.6 million in 2016 and 13.2 million in 2012. 

CalMatters has been doing a series of stories on new programs, apprenticeships and other efforts to improve job training. Tuesday, CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay moderated a panel at the James Irvine Foundation in San Francisco.

Panelists discussed workforce development in the construction and semiconductor industries. They also talked about the role apprenticeship programs play to prepare young students for well-paying careers, and providing workers with new skills.

• Adele Burnes, deputy chief at the California Division of Apprenticeship Standards: “Our economy is shifting so rapidly and it’s not sufficient to just say, ‘This is my career, this is what I’m going to do for my entire life.’ … We’re watching it happen right now with the disruption of AI into tech employment, into professional services employment. It’s happening right now.”

Speaking of workers: The union representing 37,000 service and patient care workers at the University of California plans to kick off its two-day strike today, affecting all 10 campuses and five medical centers. AFSCME Local 3299 accuses the UC of unfair bargaining and increasing health care costs for workers.

• Michael Avant, union president, in a statement: “By failing to meet its most basic legal responsibilities to the dedicated professionals who clean its facilities, serve students food, and treat its patients, UC has left workers with no choice but to exercise their legal right to strike.” 

The university denies that it negotiated in bad faith, arguing that it proposed to increase union members’ pay by an average of 26% over five years. It calls the strike a “premature” and “disheartening” development. 

Another strike of healthcare research and technical workers will also take place at UC San Francisco.

State public health officials are on alert after a child in Alameda County tested positive for bird flu, writes CalMatters health reporter Kristen Hwang.

The child had mild upper respiratory symptoms, and health investigators suspect they came in contact with wild birds (the main carriers of bird flu). While this could be California’s first known human bird flu case that does not appear to involve contact with infected cattle, experts stress that the risk to the general public remains low. 

A bird flu outbreak is currently sweeping through hundreds of California poultry and dairy farms. As of now, there are 26 confirmed human cases of bird flu — primarily among farmworkers in the Central Valley. The virus has also shown up in 17 wastewater systems.

Still, if you’re not a poultry or dairy worker, your chances of getting bird flu are slim.

• Tomás Aragón, state public health officer, in a statement: “We don’t think the child was infectious — and no human-to-human spread of bird flu has been documented in any country for more than 15 years.”

Read more about the new bird flu case in Kristen’s story.

It has been nearly three years since Gov. Gavin Newsom released his tax returns, despite his campaign promises to be the first California governor to release his tax returns every year in office. Find out why Newsom’s finances are being put under the microscope from CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff.