Donald Trump is once again torching the California election system — and this time he’s not just complaining, he’s escalating.
As ballots trickled in at California’s famously glacial pace, the former president blasted what he called “BIG cheating” by Democrats and claimed a federal investigation was already underway into the state’s slow-moving vote count.
On Truth Social, Trump unloaded on what he described as a suspiciously sluggish process, suggesting the delays weren’t just bureaucratic red tape but something far more calculated.
“There’s BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up,” he wrote, doubling down on his long-running skepticism of mail-in ballot systems. He went further, insisting the situation “may not be in for weeks” and claiming the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles was already looking into the delays.
“Why the vote counting DELAY???” he demanded, in classic Trumpian fashion.
In another post, Trump accused Democrats of trying to “STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES” from Republican candidates, again pointing the finger at what he called a flood of late-arriving mail ballots.
“The Dumocrats are at it again! Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS,” he wrote, framing the count as a recurring pattern rather than a routine feature of California’s election system.
The timing of the outrage comes as key races remain in limbo. Republican candidate Steve Hilton holds an early edge in the California governor’s primary with roughly 26.7% of the vote in, though only just over half the ballots have been counted. Meanwhile, former reality TV personality Spencer Pratt is locked in a tight Los Angeles mayoral race, sitting in the top tier but still vulnerable as late ballots continue to pour in.
As it stands, only incumbent Mayor Karen Bass has officially secured a spot in the general election runoff, while other candidates wait in electoral purgatory as counties slowly release updated tallies.
California officials — and election observers — point out that none of this is new. The state’s all-mail voting system, expanded and normalized over the past decade, is designed for accuracy rather than speed. Every ballot must be verified, opened, and processed individually, which naturally stretches out counting well beyond Election Night.
And stretch it does.
In recent cycles, roughly a third to half of California ballots have been counted after Election Day, with results continuing to shift for weeks as late-arriving mail and drop-box ballots are verified. By contrast, states like Florida routinely report near-final results within days — fueling the perception gap that Trump is now seizing on.
Supporters of the system argue the slower pace is a feature, not a flaw: more time for verification, fewer rushed counts, and greater inclusion of mail ballots that arrive on time but are processed later. Critics, however — including Trump — see something far more questionable in the delay, especially when late ballots tend to trend more heavily Democratic.
In the Los Angeles mayoral race, that dynamic is already reshaping the numbers. Early returns have favored more conservative or moderate-leaning candidates, while later-counted ballots are expected to shift left, tightening the gap between Pratt and progressive candidate Nithya Raman.
In the governor’s race, Democratic heavyweight Xavier Becerra sits just behind Hilton, while billionaire activist Tom Steyer lingers in striking distance if late ballots break his way. With multiple candidates splitting the vote, no clear majority has emerged — and the runoff lineup remains unsettled.
California’s “jungle primary” system guarantees chaos even without controversy: all candidates compete on one ballot, and only the top two advance regardless of party. In a crowded field, late-counted ballots can and often do reshape who survives the cut.
