what is the latest news on the election fraud investigations in california: First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said Friday morning that his office has multiple election fraud investigations underway in Los Angeles, and the work is being done with the FBI. The disclosure came as a Los Angeles County ballot processing center remained open to public observation by appointment.
Essayli said his office would not comment on any specific investigation, but he also said California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities. That makes the scope of the federal review broader than a single complaint or one disputed race.
Los Angeles County ballot center
Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert Renner was at a Los Angeles County ballot processing center on Friday to observe the vote counting process, according to Essayli’s office. A spokesperson for Dean Logan said the visit was in line with other routine observations of the counting process.
That observation came after President Trump alleged late Wednesday in a social media post that Democrats in California were cheating in the state’s primary election. Trump said there was an investigation underway in Essayli’s office, but provided no evidence for his claims.
Shirley Weber on the count
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said Thursday that taking the time to do the work correctly protects voters’ rights and ensures the integrity of elections. Her office said about 5.6 million ballots had been processed in California as of Thursday evening, with an estimated 3.6 million additional cast ballots still remaining.
The state’s slower pace has been tied to careful processing of millions of ballots, many of which were mailed on election day. Steve Hilton criticized the pace on Friday and said he expected to make it to November’s head-to-head race between the top two primary finishers. He also said Gov. Gavin Newsom should deploy state resources to help ensure results are verified by next Thursday.
Newsom and Hilton
Newsom’s office said the governor has nothing to do with counting ballots, and Brandon Richards responded to Hilton by saying, “It’s concerning that a candidate for Governor doesn’t know the Governor has nothing to do with counting ballots.” Hilton, for his part, called the count, “This shambles is absolutely shameful for our state.”
For California voters, the immediate takeaway is that the federal review is active while county officials keep counting and observers can still watch the process at the Los Angeles County center by appointment. The state’s election machinery is moving on two tracks at once: ballot counting and federal scrutiny.
