Liberal Incompetence at Work: Democrats Still Counting Votes After 2 Weeks for House Races

California, which has two critical House seats up for grabs,  is still counting votes, nearly two weeks after the election concluded. So far, the Democratic stronghold has only counted about three-quarters of the votes.

While the Republican Party gained the House majority, Democrats are behind by just six seats, highlighting the importance of the remaining Californian votes. Flipping the two seats could narrow the GOP’s House majority, making it more difficult to push Trump’s America First policies.

Democrats hope to shrink the Republican majority by flipping two seats in California’s 45th Congressional District held by GOP’s Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) and Central California’s 13th District occupied by Rep. John Duarte (R-CA).

While Democrat Derek Tran trailed Rep Steele throughout the election, the Democrat gained ground fast and caught up with the Republican, splitting the votes in half. With just 9% of votes remaining to be counted, Tran leads by 36 votes.

In the Orange County part of the 45th Congressional District, GOP’s Steel leads Dem Tran 50.8% to 49.2%, while in the Los Angeles County section, the Democrat has a significant lead of 56.3% to 43.7%.

In contrast, Democrat Adam Gray trails the GOP’s Rep. Duarte by 1 percent in Central California’s 13th District, with the incumbent leading by 2000 votes and with as many as 28,000 remaining votes. Although the competition is far from over, Rep Duarte commands the majority of 50.6%.

California’s slow vote count stems from the state’s practice of sending voters mail-in-ballots to increase turnout and accessibility. 

Additionally, every vote counts as long as it has the election day’s postmark and is received in the county elections office by November 12, 2024, a week after the election, according to the California Secretary of State website.

However, the practice creates a backlog as most voters drop off their ballots on election day. Nonetheless, in-person voting in Kamala Harris’s home state is no better as voters have to wait in line for up to four hours. 

Similarly, the voting process is time-consuming making voting lines even longer, highlighting various electoral challenges the Golden State has yet to address despite being a proponent of lax federal voting rules that could compromise the integrity of elections.

In 2016, California lawmakers passed a measure allowing counties to conduct all mail-in elections. In 2020, the state temporarily implemented mail-in ballots for statewide elections and declared them official for the 2022 midterm elections.

While acknowledging that the voting method is “a little slower” proponents of mail-in ballots say it encourages registered voters to participate in elections.

“What that means is things are a little slower,” said Marc Berman, a Democratic representative for California’s 23rd Assembly District. “But in a society that wants immediate gratification, I think our democracy is worth taking a little time to get it right and to create a system where everyone can participate.”