Within the June main, 1.7% of vote-by-mail ballots solid had been rejected, most often as a result of the poll was not obtained on time. Election officers and advocates pointed to USPS modifications and late-deciding voters.
Election employees type ballots at Contra Costa County’s election operations facility on Could 27, 2026 in Martinez, California. Of the 148,241 vote-by-mail ballots left uncounted in California, 93,497 had been rejected for late arrival. (Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Pictures)
California election officers rejected almost 150,000 ballots within the June 2 main election, a rise of tens of hundreds over current elections, based on a report from the secretary of state’s workplace.
That accounted for 1.7% of all vote-by-mail ballots solid, marking the state’s highest rejection price since 2014, based on the California Voter Basis. A lot of the rejected ballots had been reported as “not obtained on time,” which might imply that the poll was both postmarked after Election Day or arrived in election places of work after the June 9 receipt deadline.
“It’s at all times troubling to see a rise,” stated Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Basis. “Ballots rejected attributable to lateness are nearly at all times as a result of they’re postmarked too late — not as a result of they don’t arrive in the course of the grace interval.”
Election officers and voting advocates attribute late ballots to modifications in U.S. Postal Service practices that would end in mailpieces not being postmarked on the identical day they had been mailed, in addition to a aggressive main for governor that left many citizens undecided till the ultimate days of the marketing campaign.
“Our expertise on this election was that voters had been ready till the final minute to vote much more than what we’ve seen in previous elections,” stated Matt Moreles, the registrar of voters in Santa Clara County, which had the very best price of vote-by-mail poll rejections within the Bay Space at 2.6%.
In California, each voter receives a poll within the mail by default, roughly a month earlier than Election Day. Ballots returned within the mail should be postmarked by Election Day and arrive on the county registrar’s workplace inside per week after that.
California legislation permits election officers to resolve signature points for weeks after Election Day. Below the method generally known as poll “curing,” registrars are allowed to contact voters with a lacking or mismatched signature and provides them an opportunity to repair it.
Voting advocates argue that poll rejections are a much more pertinent difficulty for state lawmakers to deal with than exceedingly uncommon circumstances of voter fraud.
In every of California’s final 5 statewide elections, greater than 100,000 residents didn’t have their vote counted as a result of their poll arrived too late or had a signature difficulty.
“To me it’s at all times disappointing to see poll rejection occurring, as a result of it’s quite a lot of work to be a California voter,” Alexander stated. “However the truth that you see all of those ballots being rejected is proof of the cautious work election officers undertake every election to ensure that solely legitimate ballots solid are counted and that no one is voting greater than as soon as.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers are hoping that an infusion of $10 million for voter training will assist persuade Californians to vote early and keep away from poll points.
The funds signed by Newsom in June consists of $5 million every for the secretary of state’s workplace and county officers for the aim of encouraging an earlier vote.
