[EL] What happens if ballots are not all counted in California?

[Douglas Johnson]

Given the news that Bay Area counties going into "lockdown" in California,
does anyone know if ballot counting will continue in those counties? And
what, if any, precedents are there for calling the vote final if not all
ballots are counted.

Statewide, there are 900,000 ballots left to count. And 224,500 of those
are in the six now-"locked down" counties.

The state's 30-day canvass period ends April 2nd. The lock-down is supposed
to extend through April 7th.

An added complication: California voters in 2002 adopted Proposition 43, an
amendment to the State Constitution, that flat-out declares "A voter who
casts a vote in an election in accordance with the laws of this State shall
have that vote counted."

Anyone know any precedents with what happens if Section 2.5 of the
Constitution conflicts with the 30-day canvass period deadline?


Side note: *Kudos for good work to Santa Clara County Registrar's office*:
despite being the largest of the seven counties impacted by the lockdown
orders, with 951,000 registered voters and 497,000 ballots cast, they have
counted all but 7,000 (and I suspect -- but do not have any official
information -- most of those final 7,000 are provisional ballots that have
something indicating they may not be valid and are needing considerable
follow-up, meaning many will not be valid ballots).

And a hearty *thank-you* to all of the elections officials across the state
and across the county struggling to find the way through all of this!


- Doug

Douglas Johnson

Rose Institute of State and Local Government

at Claremont McKenna College

douglas.johnson at cmc.edu
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