Many Americans went to bed one week ago today presumably thinking Spencer Pratt was headed to the November runoff for Los Angeles mayor. After all, he was leading Socialist City Councilwoman Nithya Raman by thousands of votes on election night. But within a week, The Associated Press has called the race for Raman, after a wave of late-arriving mail-in ballots erased that deficit. Notably, Raman underperformed in her own city council district.
Whether that outcome was surprising or entirely predictable, the race has once again drawn rightful attention to California’s insecure and curious mail-in ballot rules.
And with the flood of late-arriving mail-in ballots having helped propel Raman into second place, it’s worth looking at one of the state’s more questionable election procedures. According to state election law, a late-arriving mail-in ballot missing a postmark can still be counted so long as it arrives by seven days after Election Day.
“Vote-by-mail ballot is postmarked or date stamped on or before Election Day by a bona fide private mail delivery service and received by the elections official in accordance with Elections Code section 3020,” state law says.
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