Days after California's 2026 primary election, two of the state's biggest races remain unresolved. The gubernatorial primary and the Los Angeles mayoral race have not produced projected winners, with one exception: incumbent LA Mayor Karen Bass has been projected to advance.
The slow count is not unusual for California, but it draws fresh criticism each election cycle. According to CBS News, about 13 million of the approximately 16 million votes cast in the 2024 presidential election in California were mail-in ballots. As of October 2025, the state had 23 million registered voters, and counties send mail-in ballots to every registered voter regardless of whether they intend to use them.
State law allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the county within a week of that date. That window, combined with the volume of ballots and the number of competitive races, extends the count significantly.
"The reason a lot of the ballots haven't been counted yet is because they were dropped in the mail Monday [or] Tuesday, and as long as they're postmarked by Tuesday, they get to be counted," said Christian Grose, a USC professor of political science and academic director of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy. "And a lot people in this election, especially waited until the last minute to vote because there are a lot of choices on the ballot."
Dean Logan, the LA County Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk, said counters are running ahead of pace compared to previous elections. "The reality is California gives voters the greatest options to cast their ballots," Logan said.
Governor Gavin Newsom last month sent an open letter to county election officials urging them to speed up the counting process. He said moving faster would help tamp down conspiracy theories about election security, though election experts have said those theories are unsubstantiated.
The gubernatorial race is particularly crowded. As many as nine candidates polled well enough before Election Day to be considered viable, making it one of the most competitive governor's primaries the state has seen in years. The LA mayoral race has also been unusually tight.
"California really cares about counting its ballots," Grose said. "And so as a result, we have a lot of different ways to vote."
No firm date has been set for when final results are expected, though state law gives counties up to 30 days after the election to certify results.
