Why does it take 30 days to certify California elections results?

All you need to know about California elections results

Its now clear that tallying votes in the California primary elections would take a lot of more time. The questions should be why – and how?

State law states that county officials have at least 30 days to formally certify elections results, according to the Secretary of the State.

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California is a very large state. With a whopping 23 million registered voters, it tops the other 49 states in the United States in terms of voting capacity.

So counting votes in the state is difficult and quite unique. In an effort to speed up tallying, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB-5 on October 3, 2025 to take full effect on January 1, 2026.

The law requires “elections officials, on or before the 13th day following an election, to finish counting all ballots”.

But it also provides exceptions in certain cases. And its those cases that are now delaying the election results.

According to Yolo County’s top elections official, Jese Salina, ballots that requires the signature of voters, for instance, is the most difficult ones to count.

Salina also pointed out that its not legally not possible for the results to be ready after 13 days, citing another state law.

When the 58 counties formally certify their results, the Secretary of the State Office would have a window of 38 days to issue a statewide certification. So the Californians are looking at July 10 to hear the full certification.