LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles announced Friday they have launched “multiple election fraud investigations” concerning California’s ongoing election process and dispatched a prosecutor to observe the county’s ballot counting facility.
These actions followed President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegations of widespread fraud in California’s extended vote tallying from Tuesday’s primary election. Mail-in ballots that typically favor Democratic candidates were still being processed, reducing vote margins for the president’s endorsed candidates seeking the governor’s office and Los Angeles mayor positions.
The statement from U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who was appointed by Trump as the chief federal prosecutor for Los Angeles, along with the visit to the county’s ballot processing facility, represents an intensification of the president’s efforts against the Democratic-controlled state. California’s traditionally lengthy counting process has frequently attracted election conspiracy theories. Trump reiterated his concerns Friday during a roundtable event in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, making unsubstantiated claims that Democrats were manipulating the election.
“You look at what’s happening — it’s getting tighter and tighter and tighter,” he said. “And the people who were supposed to win, bad things are happening. It’s a crooked state.”
Trump has frequently characterized shifts in vote counts as late ballots arrive as evidence of fraud, though these changes simply reflect the ongoing counting of additional ballots.
Trump announced Thursday that his Department of Justice was examining the California counting process. By Friday morning, Essayli posted on X regarding active investigations without offering specifics, stating only that California’s elections contain “serious structural vulnerabilities.”
A federal prosecutor arrived at the primary ballot processing facility Friday morning, according to Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for Los Angeles County’s Registrar-Recorder. The attorney “was provided an overview of the public observation program, and participated in a walkthrough of the ballot processing operations,” Sanchez said.
He noted that “election officials routinely host observers representing a wide range of interests.”
This marks the second time Trump’s Justice Department has focused on California’s electoral process. Last fall, federal observers monitored polling locations in five counties, including Los Angeles, during the special election regarding changes to California’s congressional districts.
Republican Steve Hilton, Trump’s preferred gubernatorial candidate, also called Friday for major reforms to California’s election procedures, including restricting mail ballots to only voters who specifically request them instead of automatically sending them to all registered voters. He also proposed requiring Election Day delivery rather than the current seven-day acceptance period for ballots postmarked by the voting deadline.
Hilton acknowledged in an interview that federal prosecutors might possess information his campaign lacks, though his team has monitored the count without observing anything appearing unlawful.
“We certainly haven’t seen anything of that nature that would warrant legal action,” Hilton said.
Nevertheless, Hilton characterized the slow counting process as making California “a national and international laughingstock.” He suggested the state deploy emergency teams of government workers to California’s 58 counties to accelerate vote tallying.
Jesse Salinas, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officers, said he appreciated Hilton’s willingness to assist but deemed the proposal ineffective.
“It’d be more disruptive than helpful at this point,” said Salinas, who also serves as clerk and registrar for Yolo County.
Any individual handling ballots or counting equipment would require training from the same personnel working intensively to process mail ballots received Tuesday. Additionally, Salinas explained, his vote-counting facility has reached capacity with no space for extra personnel.
Hilton, endorsed by Trump, is competing against two Democrats for one of two positions on the November ballot. Reality television star Spencer Pratt, another Trump-backed candidate, is similarly vying with City Councilwoman Nithya Raman for the opportunity to face Mayor Karen Bass in the November election.
Since Democrats typically vote by mail and retained their ballots unusually late in this crowded primary, their votes are frequently counted after those of Republican-leaning voters who may have voted earlier. This pattern means Republican candidates often reach their peak performance in initial election night results, only to watch their advantages diminish over subsequent days or weeks as election workers finish processing late-arriving mail ballots.
