President Donald Trump alleged without evidence early Thursday that Democrats are cheating in California’s primary elections, claiming in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform that the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles was investigating the matter.
“Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS,” Trump wrote at 12:48 a.m. “The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES.”
Seventeen minutes later, he added: “There’s BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks. Under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting DELAY???”
The U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California declined to comment on Trump’s assertion that the vote count is under investigation. The Department of Justice in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump presented no substantive evidence to support his allegations. He has a history of making unsubstantiated claims about election fraud, most repeatedly alleging that Democrats “stole” the 2020 presidential election despite acknowledging his defeat to Joe Biden in private, according to aides.
California uses a “jungle” primary system in which the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election regardless of party, unless one candidate wins an outright majority. A field of 61 candidates split the vote in the race for governor, leaving Republican Steve Hilton — whom Trump endorsed — and Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer in a contest that remains too close to call as vote counting continues.
Mail-in ballots account for roughly 80% of votes cast in California. State law allows ballots to be counted up to seven days after election day as long as they were postmarked by the date of the election. Mail-in ballots have historically tended to favor Democratic candidates, raising the possibility that Hilton could slip to third place once all ballots are tallied. The last Republican to win a California gubernatorial race was Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to county election officials acknowledging that the length of the vote counting process invites disinformation. “We must acknowledge that the longer the vote count takes, the more mis- and dis-information spreads,” Newsom wrote. “Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking root.”
On Wednesday evening, Mike DuHaime of the Democracy Defense Project, a bipartisan initiative to combat election misinformation, echoed those concerns. “Conducting elections with integrity and ensuring that every eligible vote is counted are fundamental to maintaining public confidence in our democracy,” DuHaime said. He added that “prolonged delays in ballot tabulation, such as those that have become increasingly common in California, can undermine public trust and create unnecessary uncertainty around election outcomes.”
“Accuracy must always remain the highest priority,” DuHaime said, “but accuracy and timeliness are not mutually exclusive.”