A Detailed Explanation of California’s Slooooow Vote-Counting System; a Blood Pressure Medication Recall–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: June 22, 2026

Indy Digest: June 22, 2026

California’s sloooooow vote-counting process gives conspiracy theorists something to grab onto—even though there’s literally zero evidence that anything underhanded is going on.

The slow count has led to some real weirdness in California politics. Remember how in 2022, Christy Holstege was ahead in a local Assembly race for weeks—to the point where she actually went to a new-member orientation session—only for Greg Wallis to pull ahead and win? Similarly, the current class of legislators was actually sworn in before their election results were even certified.

Do you really understand why California takes so gosh darned long to count ballots?

If not, I highly recommend reading a piece recently published by our partners at Calmatters. It explains why the count is slow slow, various efforts to make the count faster—and why substantial changes to speed things up are highly unlikely.

Here’s the gist:

State Democratic leaders, along with some advocates, argue that speeding up the count would mean disenfranchising voters. Most still refuse to consider any changes that would make voting harder, even if they would only affect a small fraction of voters.

“If you want results election night, you’re going to have to go back to in-person voting, way earlier deadlines for returning by mail, and you’re going to end up disenfranchising voters,” said Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, chair of her chamber’s election committee and the former Santa Cruz County registrar. 

In a reality seemingly isolated from the public outcry, Pellerin says the count is going as smoothly as ever.

“It’s actually going really well, and elections officials are working around the clock, and we’re getting results,” she said.

Several of Pellerin’s Democratic colleagues who have championed election reform bills, including Assemblymember Marc Berman of Palo Alto and Sen. Tom Umberg of Santa Ana, said they wouldn’t support restricting access in favor of quicker results. 

“As a candidate, believe me, I would love for the counting to happen faster,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat and chair of his chamber’s elections committee who is running for Congress. “I don’t think the right answer is disenfranchising people.”

California’s secretary of state, Shirley Weber, also sees no urgency in counting faster. She has dismissed concerns about slow returns as a Trump talking point. She’s expected to easily win another four-year term this fall. 

One fascinating tidbit from the piece I didn’t know:

“Mail-in ballots require far more time and energy to process compared to in-person ballots that are fed through a machine onsite. They require more money, too, but California counties have not received funding to compensate them, said Eric McGhee, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

“They’re kind of managing the best they can with the budget that they have,” McGhee said, referring to county registrars. “But it’s a lot to handle.”

California also does not contribute ongoing funds to counties for elections as some other states do. 

So, yeah. Don’t expect faster counting anytime soon.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Also from our partners at Calmatters: Did you know that some public schools get three times more funding than others? Yep. The story’s lede: “At Pinedale Elementary in Fresno, there’s almost no classroom aides, after-school tutors or behavioral counselors. Literacy activities and parent workshops are scarce. Field trips? Almost non-existent. The school survives on one of the lowest per-pupil expenditures in the state: $16,700 a year, nearly $5,000 below the state average. Less than two miles away, it’s a different story at Kratt Elementary, which is in a different school district. Kratt has almost identical demographics—predominantly low-income and Latino—but gets $25,000 per student and has the amenities to show for it. And a few hours west in the Bay Area, you’ll find Portola Valley Elementary, which spends almost $46,000 per student annually. It offers music and art classes, mental health counselors, small class sizes and state-of-the-art facilities. The way California’s school funding works, schools with large numbers of students who are low-income, English learners, homeless or in foster care get extra funding. Schools in wealthy areas get less state funding but make up for it in local property taxes and parent donations. But those in the middle? They get much less money overall.”

• The New York Times found a strong link between an increase in the number—and size—of SUVs/large vehicles, and an increase in pedestrian deaths. Here’s a gift link. The lede: “For decades, American roads were steadily getting safer for pedestrians. But around 2009, the trend reversed. Since then, the number of pedestrians killed each year has risen by about 75 percent. The surge in pedestrian deaths has baffled researchers. Most other wealthy countries haven’t seen similar increases, suggesting that possible culprits like smartphones don’t tell the whole story. … After analyzing federal and industry records, including never-before-examined data on vehicle dimensions, we found that the rise of large pickups and SUVs is an important factor. Our estimate is that about 200 to 400 pedestrians a year would not have died if vehicles had remained approximately the same size over the past quarter-century. That represents about 10 percent of the recent increase in pedestrian deaths. There are two reasons bigger vehicles are deadlier: They have taller hoods. And they tend to have larger blind zones.”

• The Washington Post published a pretty mind-blowing piece about Tulsi Gabbard, the former director of national intelligence, and her very close ties to a “guru” who some consider to be a cult leader. Here’s a gift link; it’s a doozy of a read. A snippet: “I compared the content of the memos against Gabbard’s record in the House and I found unmistakable parallels. The main speaker in a 2014 memo pressed for her to propose legislation penalizing countries with citizens who had fought for the Islamic State, and to issue a statement about it. ‘Get it started in the morning,’ the person said. ‘You need to be the leader in this regard. Don’t dick around.’ I found that Gabbard released a statement the following day. A week after that, she introduced a bill in the House.”

• The Los Angeles Times reports that Bed, Bath and Beyond stores are returning to California … and they’ll be honoring old coupons!: “Bed Bath & Beyond is looking to stage a comeback as the decades-old company reopens stores in partnership with the Container Store in 22 cities, including two in Southern California. To the delight of die-hard fans and coupon collectors, for a limited time the new stores will accept the chain’s blue and white coupons, no matter how old they are. Customers can use their expired coupons until July 13. The company is also holding a contest to find the oldest coupon out there, with a prize of a home renovation worth $100,000.” (Alas, neither of those SoCal stores are in the Coachella Valley.)

• Today’s recall news involves … blood-pressure meds! EatingWell explains: “There’s an active recall on blood pressure medication prescribed and sold nationwide, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Per the announcement, this is due to ‘failed dissolution specifications.’ The medication being recalled is 100- and 1,000-count bottles of 25-milligram chlorthalidone tablets distributed by Risiong Pharma Holdings, Inc., across the U.S. … Approximately 11,460 bottles of chlorthalidone are affected by this recall.”

• And finally … why should the U.S. take over Greenland? Because it would allow Red Lobster to permanently bring back all-you-can-eat shrimp. Really, a Trump appointee actually cited this as a reason. The Independent (U.K) reports: “Tom Dans, the Trump-appointed chair of the United States Arctic Research Commission, made that pitch earlier this year, back when the billionaire president’s desire to annex the world’s largest island dominated headlines. ‘My view is that the United States could take all the seafood Greenland could produce, and cut out the middleman, and keep it from China—and you could bring back all-you-can-eat shrimp at Red Lobster,’ he told The New Yorker. The company, which boasts hundreds of locations across the country, scrapped its ‘endless shrimp’ promotion in 2024 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The promotion has since returned to the restaurant.”

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