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Elections officials around California rejected 122,480 vote-by-mail ballots cast during the November general election, or 0.9% of all mail-in ballots, according to data from the Secretary of State’s office.

The vast majority of those arrived late, had mismatched voter signatures or no signature at all.

Elections officials are supposed to notify a voter if their mail-in ballot has a signature issue and provide an opportunity to “cure,” or fix it. But they’re not always successful, leaving those ballots uncounted. They are kept for 22 months, as are all ballots cast.

An analysis of mail ballot rejections during the 2024 election by USC’s Center for Inclusive Democracy found that 59% had a non-matching voter signature, 27% were mailed or arrived after the deadline, and 11% had no signature. The other 3% were dismissed for other unspecified reasons.

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Californian Tommy Gong is the deputy county clerk-recorder for Contra Costa County which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and home to over 700,000 registered voters. He has been an election administrator for over two decades, having served in other California counties including San Luis Obispo and Stanislaus.

Gong, who is not affiliated with any political party, has received wide recognition throughout his tenure as an election official. He led efforts to coordinate communication tactics to increase public trust in election processes across the Bay Area by forming the Coalition of Bay Area Election Officials. This initiative received awards from the National Association of Election Officials and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

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BALLOT BATTLE: California is preparing to enact a new law to prevent cities from crafting their own voter identification laws. And that could once again place the state in the crosshairs of the new Trump administration, just as he takes over.

Now-Rep. Dave Min authored the bill, which takes effect Jan. 1, in response to a Huntington Beach ballot measure requiring voters to show ID at the polls. Currently, Californians are required to have their IDs verified when they register to vote, but they don’t need to present them when they go to the polls.

Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber filed a legal challenge against the local measure that’s still ongoing. Meanwhile, Huntington Beach officials insist the community’s charter city status means the new state law won’t apply to them.

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Some critics say the state’s slow vote counting process leads to distrust, while supporters say there are several laws that county officials need to follow to make sure every vote counts.

“The key difference is that a lot of these places that people compare us to have just a one-day option to vote, where we have multiple days which is an advantage that others don’t have,” said Yolo County Registrar Jesse Salinas.

California is one of eight states that mails a ballot to every eligible voter.

“A lot of voters will wait until the last day on Election Day to cast their ballot and they will vote by mail or they will do it through this conditional process. So, what that means is we have to wait until after Election Day to start processing all of those ballots and that does take time,” Salinas explained.