California ballot – California’s gubernatorial primary ballot count continued into the fifth day as Democrat Xavier Becerra maintained his projected path to the November general election. The slow pace has triggered demands from Republican Steve Hilton, scrutiny from former Presi
For the fifth day, California election officials kept working through primary ballots postmarked by Election Day, after in-person voting ended June 2. Even as the count moved forward, the political temperature didn’t cool.
Democrat Xavier Becerra was projected to advance to November’s general election in California’s gubernatorial race. while Republican challenger Steve Hilton trailed by less than one percentage point as ballots continued to be counted. The slow pace has drawn scrutiny from former President Donald Trump and prompted a federal probe into potential election fraud.
Becerra. a former Health and Human Services secretary in the Biden administration. became the first candidate to advance to November’s election. according to results projections from the Associated Press. NBC News and Decision Desk HQ. Becerra took a late lead on June 5 with 26.8%, just under one percentage point ahead of Hilton at 26.4%.
Democrat and progressive billionaire Tom Steyer remained in third at 21.1% with 68% of the overall votes counted, according to the California Secretary of State’s office. Only the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance in California’s nonpartisan “jungle primary.”
“Becerra is well positioned to hold, perhaps even grow, his lead a bit given where the outstanding ballots rest,” said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political science professor, as votes remained to be counted in the candidate’s Southern California stronghold.
Becerra’s path to the top two has been a turnaround. In April, the moderate Democrat was languishing in the single digits in several polls. He emerged as a front-runner after former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell departed the race in April amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, which he denies.
In a June 5 statement after advancing, Becerra said: “The people of the great state of California, in the greatest nation on earth, have spoken ‒ loudly and proudly. We will not be bought. We will not be bullied. And we are never backing down. November, here we come.”
Hilton, a former Fox News commentator, continued to insist he would reach the top two. In San Mateo, a San Francisco suburb, on June 5 he told supporters, “Change is coming. We can’t go on like this. Thanks to this election, we see now, change is coming. A belief that we can be the best in everything. The best place to raise a family. The best place to start a business.”.
The counting clock has been tied to legal deadlines and logistics rather than campaign momentum. Saturday marked the fifth day state election officials were processing California Primary ballots postmarked by Election Day, after in-person voting ended June 2.
Trump’s criticism has landed on that timing. President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Hilton, has scrutinized the slow-moving counting. In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, without citing proof, that Democrats are “stealing the vote” in the governor’s race.
Hilton’s response was more direct—and demanded action from the sitting governor. On June 5, Hilton urged California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). who is serving his last term. to immediately create an “Emergency Election Support Corps” to count ballots faster. Hilton called the state the “laughingstock of the nation when it comes to election reporting.”.
At a June 5 news conference, Hilton pushed for Newsom to issue an emergency executive order and deploy available state employees and rapid-response support teams to counties facing ballot-processing delays.
“We cannot continue with a process that leaves millions of voters waiting weeks for results,” Hilton said. “If India can count over 600 million ballots in 24 hours, surely California can count a tiny fraction of that number in twice the time. End the farce. Count the votes.”
Newsom’s office rejected the premise. In an emailed statement, the governor’s office said, “It’s concerning that a candidate for Governor doesn’t know the Governor has nothing to do with counting ballots.”
The statement added that Newsom does not administer elections, count ballots, or certify results, and that those responsibilities belong to local election officials operating under state law, under the authority of the separately elected secretary of state.
The governor’s office also said, “Governor Newsom wishes the vote count moved faster, too.”
While campaigns traded accusations and demands, federal prosecutors escalated their own attention to the same voting timeline. On June 5. a top federal prosecutor in California said in a post on X that he would work with Los Angeles FBI officials to “conduct a comprehensive audit of California’s voter rolls.”.
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney of the state’s Central District, said his office would conduct multiple investigations into potential election fraud in Los Angeles.
Essayli said, “California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities. Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding public confidence.”
He pointed to a plea deal involving Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, a longtime Southern California signature collector for ballot initiatives. Essayli said Armstrong admitted that in 2025 she had paid homeless people in Los Angeles’ notorious Skid Row to register to vote in federal elections. as proof of fraud in California elections.
Armstrong will plead guilty to a felony charge of paying another person to register to vote. Essayli said the federal charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. He added that Armstrong routinely paid $2 or $3 to entice unhoused residents to sign her petitions.
Essayli is among several federal prosecutors aligned with Trump who say they’ve opened multiple election-fraud investigations, escalating tensions over a slow and still-shifting ballot count.
Not everyone agrees that such concerns reflect a widespread reality. Paul Smith, senior vice president at the Campaign Legal Center, a government watchdog organization, told in 2024 that “By and large, fraud is largely a made-up problem.”
A 2025 analysis by the Brookings Institution also found that mail-in voting fraud is rare.
As primary votes were still being counted. the Justice Department sent an attorney to observe ballot processing in Los Angeles on June 5. the county’s elections office said. Mike Sanchez. a spokesman for Los Angeles County’s Registrar-Recorder office. said the office was notified late the previous day that the U.S. Attorney’s Office would be sending an Assistant U.S. Attorney to the Ballot Processing Center to observe ballot processing activities.
Sanchez said, “The individual arrived this morning, was provided an overview of the public observation program, and participated in a walkthrough of the ballot processing operations.”
Sanchez added that ballot processing in Los Angeles County is open to public observation and that elections officials routinely host observers representing a wide range of interests, including members of the public, candidates, political parties, advocacy organizations, and government agencies.
The sequence is easy to feel in real time: as California’s official vote count continues day by day. campaigns push for faster results. a president amplifies claims of wrongdoing. and federal officials move from rhetoric to investigations. Even as Becerra’s lead holds in the early numbers. the dispute over how fast—and how clean—the process should be remains very much alive.
California governor's race ballot counting Xavier Becerra Steve Hilton Tom Steyer Donald Trump Gavin Newsom Justice Department election fraud investigation Los Angeles voter rolls