California's elections, as we've been covering and as the Committee on House Administration has been investigating with hearings, are rife with issues. How have Democrats in the most populous state taken such efforts? California Secretary of State Shirley Weber took to complaining, including over X last week with a post that restricted replies. Curiously, it was a post she ended up quietly deleting.
California's Secretary of State has quietly deleted this post, preserved here for posterity. pic.twitter.com/WG82RMCfKc
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) June 20, 2025
In late April, the Committee held a hearing, "Why the Wait? Unpacking California’s Untimely Election Counting Process," to raise concerns with the most populous state's voting practices. Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI) highlighted some stunning details about the system, from how it took until December 4 – close to a month after Election Day in 2024 – for the Associated Press to call all races, to a universal mail-in ballot system and the fact that voters can send their ballots in seven days after the election, and also a 28-day curing period.
Weber was complaining about how House members would dare to mention the need to reform her state's election laws not long after. Months later she put out a post over X daring to take issue with spending money on such reform, which like her other posts restricted replies, certainly received attention.
As we covered last week, not long after Weber's post went up:
Now, Weber is speaking out once more about efforts to speed up the vote count. "What would 'faster vote counting' actually cost?" Weber's post asked, putting "faster vote counting" in scare quotes for some reason. "Faster counting doesn’t increase accuracy—it only makes it more costly," her post continued, without evidence.
An image shared in the post with an official seal in the left-hand corner also seeks to fearmonger about the cost. "To speed up the counting of ballots that arrive after Election Day and deliver a full same-day tally, one California county alone would need to expand to 950 polling places, driving costs upwards to $110,000 per election," that image read. In smaller text is that same warning that Weber posted, "Faster counting doesn’t increase accuracy—it only makes it more costly."
Weber put out her original post last Wednesday, though Rob Pyers, the research director of California Target Book, noted in his post from Friday that her post had been quietly deleted.
The Republican Party of Orange County, one of the many putting out quoted reposts--enough to give Weber a ratio even with her restricted replies--also highlighted how Pyers had taken a screenshot to call attention to such a post.
OC Republicans last week had called out Weber for her concern on spending money to reform elections when California has faced spending concerns and criticisms over their "train to nowhere," which the Biden-Harris administration was all too happy to use taxpayer funding to help fund, but the Trump administration is reviewing. California also provides healthcare to illegal immigrants, the first state to offer it to all illegals.
Wow.
— OC Republicans (@OCGOP) June 20, 2025
The Secretary of State just deleted her post.
Good thing folks keep receipts.https://t.co/qGyfMew8SY https://t.co/TlRHvlog9S
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