What's Happening in California?! | Season 2 Episode 38

 California is once again taking DAYS / WEEKS to count millions of ballots, and many Americans are asking the same question: How can one of the most technologically advanced states in the nation still struggle to deliver timely election results? 

SEE THE FULL VIDEO HERE :  https://youtu.be/aOqJ-n5J3uc

 In this episode of The JoCo Republican Podcast, we take a closer look at California's vote-by-mail system, the ongoing ballot counting process, election confidence, and why so many voters are questioning a system that seems to drag on long after Election Day. 

 We'll also discuss the Spencer Pratt race, the explosion of election memes and misinformation on social media, and the growing problem of people accepting screenshots and viral posts as fact without doing any research of their own. 

This isn't about conspiracy theories. It's about asking questions, looking at the facts, and having an honest conversation about election systems, transparency, accountability, and public trust. 

At a time when outrage travels faster than information, maybe it's time we started demanding evidence instead of slogans. 

Do you think California's election system is helping or hurting confidence in our elections? Let me know in the comments. 

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 #california #electionintegrity #votebymail #election2026 #californiapolitics #spencerpratt #politics #conservatives #republicanparty #electionresults2026 #voting #BallotCounting #electionday #thejocorepublicanpodcast #JoCoRepublican #JordanMortenson #oregonpolitics #politicalpodcast #currentevents #americafirst #californiapolitics 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Josephine County Republican. It is June the 9th, 2026. I hope you guys have having a good springtime. I was gonna take my kayak out. Actually, I got my tow hitch installed on my vehicle the other day. I do have my jet ski, so I'm gonna be taking that out when you know it gets a little warmer. Of course, a little cold and rainy lately. Um, but you know, I was down in there in California and I was trying to figure out Shasta County um down in Reading that the Republican Party there, they actually kind of um did their own thing. They're not doing mail and but in voting down there. They're actually doing old school uh ballot. Um you know, you have to go to the the polling places and show your ID. They actually split away from California. There's actually two counties in California that have done that. But what is going on with California? I mean, it seems like it's the death of common sense down there. Um I wanted to talk to you guys about something. You know, it's the latest California election, it's a perfect example of what's bothering a lot of people. And you know, it how is it California arguably is one of the most technologically advanced states in America, maybe even the world. Um yet they have a hard time trying to produce timely election results. Think about that. This is the home of Silicon Valley, this is the home of Google, Apple, Nvidia, Meta, and countless technology companies that have literally changed the world. This is the state that even helped build the modern internet. So, you know, they're leading the development of artificial intelligence. Yet here we are, once again, days after an election, and they're still counting ballots. Not hundreds, not thousands, millions. And before somebody starts hyperventilating and screaming, election denier, let's slow down a minute. I'm not talking about conspiracy theories here. I'm talking about confidence because confidence actually does matter. And if the public doesn't have confidence in the process, eventually the process itself becomes the problem. I was uh reading an article this week, actually. Uh thank you, Richard, for sending me this. Um, discussing California's election systems, and some of the facts are pretty incredible. I'm gonna go ahead and put that up on the screen for you guys to read, and then I'm gonna preface that stuff. Um, anyway, according to the article, California was uh still processing millions of ballots days after the election day. Millions, folks. The articles point out that uh California automatically mails ballots to active registered voters. Ballots can continue arriving after election day as long as they meet the state's requirements. Signature verification continues after election day. Ballot curing continues after election day. Provisional ballots continue being reviewed after election day. In other words, election day isn't really election day anymore. It's election week or month. I don't know. Anyway, um, I think it's a fair thing to question, and and people are all over the country. People are looking into this. Um, not because you know, questioning something is dangerous, but because questioning is healthy. So let's talk about what's actually happening, the facts. California's election system is intentionally designed to continue processing ballots after election day. That is not a conspiracy theory. That's how the system works. Mail ballots continue arriving, signatures continue to be verified, errors continue to be corrected, additional ballots continue to be processed. Election officials will tell you that that's a feature, not a bug. The goal is to count every valid ballot. Fine. I understand that argument, but here's the question: at what point does the system become so complicated that it undermines public confidence? Because that's where we're going with this. That's what we're seeing here. Every election cycle, Americans are told to trust the process, and then they're told the results were well, we're gonna take a little bit longer with these results. And then they're told to wait a few more days, and then they're told to wait a week, and then they're told to no longer ask questions. Yeah, maybe that's part of the problem. What is happening? What we're seeing is growing disconnect between the ordinary Americans, what they expect, and what election officials are delivering. Most Americans think elections election day um should determine the outcome of an election. Hello, election day, it's over. Instead, um what they're often seeing is races that continue to change days later. Voting totals continue changing, margins continue shifting, additional ballots continue appearing in updates. And while there is uh, you know, possible explanations for every one of these things, the public perception is still the same. Why does it take so long? That is the question. And I don't think that's an unreasonable question. In fact, I think it's one of the most reasonable question questions a person can ask, especially when they're um talking about California here. Again, the technology capital of America, the state that leads in nationwide innovation in technology, the state that helped create many of the technologies we're using every single day. You know, if anybody is capable of building an election system that's efficient, transparent, and inspires confidence, shouldn't that be California? Well, maybe not. Now, let's talk about the Spencer Pratt race. Um, if you spent time on social media lately and you've uh been seeing all kinds of claims flying flying around, and and uh kudos to uh Mike Jones, who's putting out some great articles about this. There's um, you know, he's covering the bases really, um, but there's a lot of other stuff flying around. You see memes, screenshots, rumors, people claiming that this batch did this, people claiming that that batch did that, people claiming that certain numbers are impossible, people claiming that everything proves fraud, people claiming that nothing is wrong at all. And honestly, this is where things get a little bit ridiculous because very few people actually stop and look at the data. Most people simply choose whether, you know, whichever explanation fits what they already believe. You know, that's not research, that's not confidence, uh that's a confirmation bias. And social media has become a giant machine for rewarding it. People don't verify, they share, people don't investigate, they react, people don't read. They repost and they repost and they repost and then they get mad and they post more memes. And before long, a rumor becomes a fact simply because enough people um repeated that. Uh, well, we've reached a point where a meme has more influence than a source document. A screenshot has more influence than an actual election procedures, and a viral post has more influence than reality. That's dangerous. So not because one side is guilty of it, because both sides do it. But lately I've noticed something else. Questions themselves have become controversial. Ask why California takes so long to count ballots, you are attacked. As soon as you ask that, ask whether vote by mail has uh become too complicated, you're attacked. Ask whether Americans should expect election results faster, you're also attacked. Why? I mean, come on, think about it. There's countries like what is it, India? They they they got their elections in done in like uh two and a half days. But anyway, uh, you know, that's going off topic. It's another country, but those aren't radical questions. These are common sense questions. And if a system can't withstand basic scrutiny, maybe the problem isn't the questions, maybe the problem is the system. Look, I don't claim to have every answer, but I know this much confidence matters, transparency matters, trust matters, and uh systems that uh uh routinely leave millions of people wondering what happened are not actually helping themselves. At the same time, Americans need to stop getting their information from memes. Stop believing screenshots without context context, sorry. Stop assuming that because some something is shared tens of thousands of times, it must be true. Research matters, evidence matters, facts matter. And that's where we seem to be struggling right now, at least some of us. At the end of the day, this isn't really about California, it's about uh it's not really about Spencer Pratt, it's not really about Republicans or Democrats, it's it's whether Americans are still willing to think critically, whether we're still willing to ask questions, whether we're still willing to demand facts instead of slogans. Because once a society has stopped asking questions, somebody else starts providing all the answers. History shows that's never a good thing. There's nothing new under the sun here, folks. Anyway, thanks for listening, Josephine County Republican. We will see you next time.