 "Elon Musk takes potshots at vote count delay in California, says 'India counted 640 million votes in 1 day'")
While taking potshots at the vote count delay in the state of California, billionaire Elon Musk lauded the fact that India counted 640 million votes in one day. In June this year, India’s massive electoral process came to an end after the counting of votes in the highly intense Lok Sabha Election. According to a Newsweek article, over 642 million votes were cast in the polls, which were conducted in the span of six weeks.
However, the counting of these millions of votes was over in one day, declaring a clear winner in the race. Meanwhile, in the United States, some states are still counting the votes for the 2024 US Presidential elections, leaving many people to wonder what is the reason behind this delay.
India counted 640 million votes in 1 day.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2024
California is still counting votes 🤦♂️ https://t.co/ai8JmWxas6
On Sunday, Musk shared a Newsweek article on X highlighting how India has managed to count over 600 million votes in the span of 24 hours. He also took jabs at the lacklustre process that California is employing to count its votes. “India counted 640 million votes in 1 day. California is still counting votes,” Musk wrote on X.
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More ShortsCalifornia struggles to count votes
Musk’s comment came a day after it was found that the state of California is still counting ballots, more than two weeks after the election day. Earlier this week, the electoral officers in California notified that the state still has more than 300,000 ballots left to count.
It is pertinent to note that California is the most populous state in the United States and is home to over 39 million people. Out of this, at least 16 million people cast a ballot in the November 5 race between the current President-elect Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris. Over the years, the state has consistently been one of the slowest states to count and report its votes.
One of the reasons for this delay is the fact that the state is extremely large and most of the ballots are cast by mail. On Friday, the election officials noted that it would take weeks to count every ballot. The state similarly took a few weeks to report its final results in the 2020 and 2022 elections.
The delay in counting mail-in ballots happens because each voter must be individually validated and processed, the Associated Press points out, and this is a more thorough process than simply scanning a ballot at a polling place.
How India managed to pull it off
In India, over 900 million people were eligible to vote in the world’s largest election. Out of them, a record-breaking 642 million voters cast their ballots, not delivering a majority to a single party. “We have created a world record of 642 million proud Indian voters. This is a historic moment,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said after the voting process concluded.
When it comes to the counting process, the votes in India are counted in a decentralized manner, occurring simultaneously across each of the 543 constituencies. The election officers start counting postal ballots, followed by votes recorded by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which have been used in the country since 2000.
Not only this, each vote is also supported by the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), which produces a paper slip every time a vote is cast. Following a ruling from the Indian Supreme Court, postal ballots are counted and declared before other votes are counted. After this, EVMs get unsealed in the presence of representatives from all political parties.
Under the supervision of the Returning Officer (RO), the counting typically takes place in a single large hall, and the results are recorded and announced after each round. Even on Saturday, India managed to count 90 million votes in just a few hours in the Assembly Elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. The population of the state of Maharashtra alone is around four times more than that of California.
Why do US states face delay
The delay in vote counts can happen due to a wide range of factors, including protocols for processing mail-in and provisional ballots, recount procedures, and logistical challenges in different states. It is pertinent to note that the United States does not have an overarching federal vote-counting process.
Hence, each state has unique laws and resources, which ultimately creates different timelines for reporting results. States like Arizona and California usually take weeks to declare results because of their massive population and high volume of mail-in ballots.
“Most of our votes that come in are by mail, and as a result, that requires verification of the signature on the envelopes. And so we have to open the envelopes, we have to verify the signature and all of those things before we can accept that ballot,” California’s Secretary of State Shirley Weber told Sacramento TV station KTXL. “We have to make sure that that’s the person who actually sent that ballot in,” Weber furthered. However, this delay has also led to a rise in doubts about the integrity of the elections.
With inputs from agencies.
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