One week after Election Day, control of the U.S. House rests on just over a dozen races where winners have not yet been determined. Nine states have at least one uncalled House race, some of which are so close they are headed to a recount. Then there’s California. About half of the yet-to-be-decided House races are in the state, which has only counted about three-quarters of its votes statewide. This isn’t unusual or unexpected, as the nation’s most populous state is consistently among the slowest to report all its election results. Compare it to a state like Florida, the third-largest, which finished counting its votes four days after Election Day. The same was true four years ago, when Florida reported the results of nearly 99% of ballots cast within a few hours of polls closing. In California, almost one-third of ballots were uncounted after election night, and the state was making almost daily updates to its count through Dec. 3, a full month after Election Day. These differences in how states count — and how long it takes — exist because the Constitution sets out broad principles for electing a national government, but leaves the details to the states. The choices made by state lawmakers and election officials as they sort out those details affect everything from how voters cast a ballot to how quickly the tabulation and release of results takes place, how elections are kept secure and how officials maintain voters’ confidence in the process. The gap between when California and Florida are able to finalize their count is the natural result of election officials in the two states choosing to emphasize different concerns and set different priorities. Here’s a look at the differences: How California counts Lawmakers in California designed their elections to improve accessibility and increase turnout. Whether it’s automatically receiving a ballot at home, having up until Election Day to turn it in or having several days to address any problems that may arise with their ballot, Californians have a lot of time and opportunity to vote. It comes at the expense of knowing the final vote counts soon after polls close. “Our priority is trying to maximize participation of actively registered voters,” said Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman, who authored the 2021 bill that permanently switched the state to all-mail elections. “What that means is things are a little slower. 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.” California, which has long had a culture of voting absentee, started moving toward all-mail elections last decade. All-mail systems will almost always prolong the count. Mail ballots require additional verification steps — each must be opened individually, validated and processed — so they can take longer to tabulate than ballots cast in person that are then fed into a scanner at a neighborhood polling place. In 2016, California passed a bill allowing counties to opt in to all-mail elections before instituting it statewide on a temporary basis in 2020 and enshrining it in law in time for the 2022 elections. Studies found that the earliest states to institute all-mail elections – Oregon and Washington – saw higher turnout. Mail ballots also increase the likelihood […]