California Election Experts Sound Alarm As Rejected Ballots Quadruple

SACRAMENTO — As Democratic leaders successful California situation President Trump’s latest effort to restrict nan usage of mail-in ballots, they besides must grapple pinch a troubling improvement successful nan past election.

A important number of mail-in ballots arrived excessively precocious to beryllium counted successful nan Nov. 4 typical predetermination for Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successful measurement to reconfigure nan state’s legislature districts, according to authorities data.

Ballots came successful precocious astatine an mean complaint 4 times higher than that of nan 2024 election, pinch agrarian counties seeing immoderate of nan biggest increases, according to a Times review.

“Something changed,” said Melvin E. Levey, who heads nan Merced County Registrar of Voters. “We don’t for illustration seeing precocious ballots and if personification has made nan effort to vote, we want to count it.”

Merced saw almost a sevenfold summation successful late-arriving message ballots successful nan November predetermination compared pinch nan twelvemonth before.

Vote-by-mail ballots are considered precocious if they are not postmarked connected aliases up of predetermination time aliases do not get wrong 7 days of predetermination day.

The rumor appears to beryllium linked to nan U.S. Postal Service, which past twelvemonth reduced nan number of trips to prime up message astatine station offices successful mostly agrarian areas. Election officials warned earlier Nov. 4 that nan Postal Service changes could hold nan postmarking of ballots and lead to votes not being counted.

During nan Nov. 4 predetermination successful California, an mean of 8 retired of each 1,000 vote-by-mail ballots were rejected by counties because they arrived excessively late, according to Secretary of State data. In nan 2024 wide election, which included nan statesmanlike race, an mean of 2 of each 1,000 vote-by-mail ballots were rejected for being late.

In Kern County, for example, 3,303 mail-in ballots — aliases 1.95% of returned mail-in ballots — were not counted successful nan 2025 typical predetermination because they arrived excessively late. In 2024, that number was 332 — aliases 0.14%. And successful Riverside County, 5,831 ballots — aliases 0.95% of those mailed successful — were deemed excessively precocious to count, much than double nan number of precocious ballots rejected successful 2024.

Postal Service spokesperson Cathy Purcell recommended that voters message their ballot a week successful beforehand of erstwhile it must beryllium received by predetermination officials to guarantee it arrives connected time.

“You should ne'er beryllium mailing your ballot connected predetermination day,” Purcell told The Times.

Before last’s year’s typical election, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber issued a akin informing astir nan delays. Anyone dropping disconnected their ballot astatine a station agency connected predetermination time should get it postmarked astatine nan counter, she said.

“We don’t want anyone to conscionable flip it into nan mailbox arsenic we person been capable to do successful nan past and person it counted,” she said. “The Postal Service has said that they whitethorn not beryllium counted successful definite areas.”

California elector information master Paul Mitchell expressed astonishment astir nan Postal Service’s guidance.

“We’ve had six, 8 years of elections wherever group were emotion assured astir mailing successful their ballot,” said Mitchell, vice president of nan elector information patient Political Data Inc. “Now nan USPS is saying they person to message it successful a week early.”

“That is simply a melodramatic alteration that tin disenfranchise voters who are conscionable pursuing nan aforesaid shape that they’ve utilized successful anterior elections,” he added.

Democrats person been defending nan vote-by-mail strategy successful nan look of Republican attacks. Trump precocious signed an executive bid to enforce national restrictions connected mail-in ballots and, without evidence, has agelong criticized mail-in ballots arsenic a root of fraud and a facet successful his 2020 predetermination nonaccomplishment to Joe Biden.

The Nov. 4 typical predetermination connected Proposition 50 was nan Democrats’ effort to antagonistic Trump’s push for Republican-led states, astir notably Texas, to redraw their electoral maps to support Democrats from gaining power of nan U.S. House of Representatives successful nan 2026 midterms and upending his agenda. The ballot measurement overwhelmingly passed.

Nearly 89% of votes successful nan Nov. 4 predetermination were vote-by-mail ballots, according to Weber’s office. In summation to Proposition 50, taxation measures were besides connected nan ballots successful immoderate counties.

Postal Service changes

About a period earlier nan Nov. 4 election, Weber and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta held a news convention to promote California voters to ballot early because of work changes astatine nan U.S. Postal Service.

Bonta told reporters that voters surviving 50 aliases much miles from six ample message processing centers successful municipality areas who mailed their ballots connected predetermination time would not person those ballots postmarked successful time. The centers are successful Los Angeles, Bell Gardens, San Diego, Santa Clarita, Richmond and West Sacramento, according to Bonta’s office.

The changes astatine nan U.S. Postal Service are portion of a 10-year scheme that kicked disconnected respective years agone aimed astatine improving services and reducing costs astatine nan independent national agency.

In nan 17 counties that are mostly aliases wholly wrong nan 50-mile region from nan message facilities, nan mean complaint of precocious ballots doubled successful nan November 2025 predetermination compared pinch nan predetermination nan twelvemonth earlier — from 2.5 per 1,000 ballots received successful 2024 to 5.6 per 1,000 successful 2025.

But successful counties that are wholly aliases mostly extracurricular of nan 50-mile radius, nan mean complaint of precocious ballots quadrupled — from 2 per 1,000 ballots received successful 2024 to 9.3 per 1,000 successful 2025, authorities predetermination records show.

Similar complaints astir precocious ballots because of nan message changes person been reported successful different states, including successful Snohomish County, Wash., according to nan New York Times.

The U.S. Postal Services told nan Times that location are “any number of factors” that whitethorn impact nan timeliness of mail.

“The Postal Service has successfully delivered America’s predetermination mail, and we are assured that we will do truthful again this year,” spokesperson Nikolaj Hagen said. “We trust connected long-standing, robust and tested policies and procedures, which person proven successful successful nan unafraid and timely transportation of predetermination mail.”

Hagen added that “adjustments to our proscription operations will consequence successful immoderate mailpieces not arriving astatine our originating processing accommodation connected nan aforesaid time that they are mailed.”

Postmarks are mostly applied astatine those processing facilities, Hagen said, truthful nan postmark day whitethorn not bespeak nan day nan message was collected by a missive carrier, dropped disconnected astatine a unit location, aliases placed successful a postulation box.

While nan U.S. Postal Service uses postmarking as an soul tool to way nan spot and day nan message was accepted, extracurricular entities besides usage nan postmarks for their ain purposes, including nan Internal Revenue Service, which requires national taxation returns to beryllium mailed by April 15.

Several U.S. senators, including Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), sent a missive successful January to USPS Postmaster Gen. Dave Steiner informing that changes to postmarking will make it much difficult for people, peculiarly those successful agrarian areas, to ballot by message and salary taxation bills connected time.

On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive bid that seeks to put caller national controls connected voting by message successful states, repeating his long-held but unsubstantiated declare that mail-in ballots are a root of wide fraud successful U.S. elections.

The bid directs nan U.S. Postal Service to return power of message balloting by designing caller envelopes pinch typical barroom codes that will let nan national authorities to guarantee that specified ballots spell retired only to eligible voters.

States must travel nan USPS process if they scheme to usage nan national message strategy for sending aliases receiving ballots. They besides must taxable to nan USPS lists of eligible voters successful beforehand of specified ballots passing done nan message system.

Separately, nan Republican National Committee is challenging a Mississippi rule that allows ballots that get up to 5 days aft predetermination time to beryllium accepted and counted. The lawsuit was based on earlier nan conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court successful March.

Times unit newsman Kevin Rector contributed to this report.