Counting votes quickly and accurately are not mutually exclusive. Here’s how California can do it

California is the home of the artificial intelligence boom, smartphones and some of the most valuable technology companies on earth. We have built systems that process billions of transactions in a second, sequence a human genome overnight and operate self-driving cars.

Yet it wasn’t until July 10 that the state finally certified the results of its June 2 primary election.

It took 38 days.

This is not a technology problem or fraud. It is a policy problem.

California’s ballot-counting delays are not a bug in the process. The state allows county officials up to 30 days after Election Day to complete counting, auditing and certification. Mail-in ballots postmarked on Election Day can arrive at county offices up to seven days later. Counties must verify signatures on every single envelope before opening ballots.

Officials are, in the words of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, essentially running two election systems simultaneously.

The result is a state of 23 million registered voters that takes weeks to tell citizens who won an election.

When the incumbent secretary of state — initially appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom — resisted timeliness and even claimed she would not sacrifice accuracy, Newsom himself sent a letter to all 58 county elections officials urging them to count ballots “as quickly as possible,” to prevent “election lies from taking hold.”

To be clear, I am not saying California’s elections are rigged. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled votes can be counted five days after Election Day if postmarked. The court’s decision means that elections will continue to be administered under rules that were not designed for speed.

Other states like Florida show that counting fast and accurately are not mutually exclusive. They’re a function of when the law allows the work to start. Whereas California takes over a month, Florida can finish counting votes in four days.

Three changes would make a concrete difference.

California should first allow counties to begin processing and verifying mail-in ballots before Election Day, as 28 other states already do. Florida is the clearest example: State law lets officials begin processing and counting mail ballots roughly three weeks before Election Day, which is why Florida often reports results within hours of polls closing while California is still counting weeks later.

Giving California counties a head start would compress the post-election counting window.

Second, the state should fund the staffing and equipment counties need to count faster. The California Voter Foundation has called for $55 million in state funding for elections staff and technology upgrades. The state allocated $29 million in the latest budget.

It’s a good start, but throwing money at a slow counting process without meaningful changes will do little to speed up our elections. 

Last, California should set a mandatory interim results deadline, requiring counties to publish results covering most ballots within 72 hours of Election Day. 

None of these proposals restrict a single vote. Every ballot postmarked by Election Day — even if received five days after — would still count. Every voter would retain every protection they have. The only thing that changes is the wait to know the outcome of our elections.

After serving Californians for 30 years in nonpartisan public office at every level of California government, from school board, State Assembly, city hall, and county, I have learned that process failures do not fix themselves. Someone must decide these failures matter enough to fix, forge a coalition of support, and get it through the process.

We need California to be the first, not the worst, in handling the most important job in a democracy. We have the tools. We have the talent. What we lack is an experienced, nonpartisan, solution-oriented, reformist Chief Elections Officer to get it done. That starts with new leadership in the Secretary of State’s office.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s campaign did not respond by deadline to offers from CalMatters to author a guest commentary offering her views.