With 1.7M uncounted ballots, CA election head takes 'pride' in not being 'rushed'

(The Center Square) - California still has four uncalled Congressional races as 1.7 million ballots remain to be counted over one week after Election Day, less than 10% of which are mail-in ballots that arrived after the election.

Republican Congressman John Duarte’s lead has grown to nearly 4,000 votes in the 13th District, while Republican Congressman David Valadao officially held off Democrat Rudy Salas in the nearby 22nd District.

Republican Congressman Ken Calvert also officially defended his seat against Democrat Will Rollins, while Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel’s almost 4,000 vote lead against Democrat Derek Tran two days ago is now down to 349 votes with 93% of the votes counted.

In the uncalled 9th and 21st Districts, incumbent Democrats have held their narrow majorities in what were not expected to be top battleground races.

With so few of the uncounted ballots having arrived after Election Day, it’s unclear why California takes so long to count the ballots received by the end of Election Day; Florida, by contrast, reports most ballots within a few hours of polls closing.

“We take pride in the fact we are not rushed,” said California Secretary of State Shirley Weber at a virtual press conference. “We make sure every person who is eligible to vote gets a chance to vote.”