Vice President JD Vance torched California’s election process as questions continued to mount over the state's lengthy vote-counting timeline, the accuracy of voter rolls, whether mail-in ballots can be backdated and counted, and the recurring pattern of Republicans leading on election night only to lose significant ground as mail-in ballots are processed in the weeks that follow.
He pointed to that pattern on Monday, citing investigations by U.S. attorneys that he said had uncovered reasons to investigate California's election system. Questions remain, however, about whether any potential irregularities would be significant enough to affect the outcome of statewide elections in a state dominated by Democratic voters.
Vance also criticized state officials for continuing to refuse to comply with federal investigations.
🚨 JUST IN: VP JD Vance CALLS OUT California's rampant fraud and cheating after Spencer Pratt gets thrust behind Nithya Raman due to "late mail-in ballots"
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 9, 2026
"You would expect these mail-in ballots to kind of meet that same basic pattern where, number one would get the most votes,… pic.twitter.com/krBqlI77VX
"Here with this whole thing is how is it that you had, Karen Bass was in first place, Spencer Pratt was in second place. And then this other woman was in third place," Vance said. "You would expect these mail-in ballots to kind of meet that same basic pattern where, you know, number one would get the most votes, number two would get the second most votes and so on."
But somehow we find ourselves in a situation where number one, they're still receiving ballots, not just counting ballots, Jesse, they're still receiving ballots. And number two, the way that they're coming in just so happens to work out such that the Republican is getting kicked out of the final two. So it's a Democrat versus Democrat runoff. That seems pretty shady to me, especially when you add on top of the fact that in California, you are prohibited from asking for somebody's identification before they vote.
"We joke about this, Jesse, but that's why these elections don't have the legitimacy they need is because if you're going to give a card to anybody who's willing to pay $10 a month for a gym membership, then you're not actually going to ensure that that person is legitimately able to vote," the vice president said. "This is why we have, for example, photo ID to get on an airplane so that airplane rides are safe. This is why we have photo ID to purchase alcohol to ensure that you're the proper age."
"It's insane that we have a state not only that doesn't ask for your identification, but we'll throw you in jail if you're an elections official who is asking for identification," he added.
This comes after U.S. attorneys launched an investigation into California’s election process last week, as questions mounted not only about why the state takes so long to count ballots, but also about whether genuine election fraud may be occurring.
U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli revealed yesterday that state officials are continuing to deny the federal government access to audit the state's voter rolls. The dispute comes amid concerns over California's voter registration process, which allows some first-time voters who do not provide a Social Security number or driver's license to verify their identity using alternative forms of identification, such as a gym membership card, credit or debit card, or even a prescription drug label.