President Trump on Thursday accused Democrats of trying to steal this week’s California primary elections and said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles would investigate the surge of late mail-in ballots and the slow vote count.
The probe would focus on Tuesday’s jungle primaries for California governor and Los Angeles mayor, in which Republican candidates had a strong performance in early results.
The final results may not be known for weeks because of a deluge of late-arriving mail-in ballots that officials say will take time to count, state officials warned.
Mr. Trump said Democrats are “trying to steal” both of the closely watched elections.
“The Dumocrats are at it again,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They are trying to steal the governor of California primary and the mayor of Los Angeles primary away from two great Republican candidates. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of mail-in ballots.”
He did not say who initiated the investigation.
SEE ALSO: ‘This makes me nervous’: GOP sounds alarm on flood of uncounted mail-in ballots in California
“There’s big cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks. Under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting delay?” Mr. Trump wrote.
The state’s nonpartisan primaries will decide which candidates are on the general election ballot in November.
State election officials notoriously begin processing ballots postmarked after Election Day, once in-person voting ends. It might take weeks to know the final results, officials have said.
Under California law, election officials have up to 30 days after an election to count every ballot and perform accuracy checks.
“California elections officials prioritize the right to vote and election security over rushing the vote count,” Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a statement Tuesday. “We have a process that by law ensures both voting rights and the integrity of elections, so I would call on all Californians to be patient.”
As of Thursday morning, about 56% of the total votes have been counted. Steve Hilton, a Republican and former Fox News commentator, is leading Xavier Becerra, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Biden, by 2 percentage points.
Mr. Hilton has 27.6% of the vote. Mr. Becerra, who surged in the campaign’s final stretch, has 25.6%. Tom Steyer, a Democratic billionaire climate activist, sits in third place with 19.6%.
In the Los Angeles mayor’s race, incumbent Karen Bass, a Democrat, will be on the ballot in November, having qualified for a run-off vote later this year. Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, a Republican, has 29% of the vote, which is good enough for second place. Democrat Nithya Raman is third with 22.8% of the vote.
