LA County Vote-Counting Facility Full Of Empty Desks Despite $336M Budget
A visit to Los Angeles County’s massive ballot processing facility has raised new questions about California’s slow election count, as hundreds of thousands of ballots remain unprocessed days after the June 2 primary.
The California Post visited the county’s 144,000-square-foot ballot processing center Thursday and reported seeing dozens of empty workstations while vote totals remained unresolved across California and Los Angeles.
The scene appeared to clash with the growing pressure on election officials to process a massive backlog of ballots.
According to a Wednesday night announcement from county officials, only 77,521 additional ballots had been processed since election night. Meanwhile, an estimated 713,180 ballots remained unprocessed.
The Post reported that large parts of the facility appeared understaffed. Rows of workstations were vacant, and multiple sections of chairs sat empty.
In one area where election workers review ballots that scanners cannot automatically read, about 25 bins of ballots appeared ready for processing. But nearby desks were reportedly empty, with no employees seated there.
In another section, reporters observed roughly 75 workers preparing ballots for counting and opening envelopes, even though the area appeared capable of holding more than twice that number.
The optics quickly intensified scrutiny of California’s already criticized election system, especially as major races remain unresolved.
California gubernatorial frontrunner Steve Hilton said Thursday that he would urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to create an Emergency Election Count Accelerator Corps. The proposal would mobilize state personnel and rapid response teams to help counties struggling with large ballot-counting backlogs.
“California is the laughing stock of the nation when it comes to election reporting. We are the fourth-largest economy in the world, home to Silicon Valley and some of the most advanced technology on earth, yet government bureaucrats need a month to count fewer than 10 million ballots,” Hilton said.
Hilton planned to present a strategy to give counties more personnel and resources to speed up ballot counting without interfering with election laws, security procedures, or official vote-counting rules.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office is now under growing scrutiny, particularly given the scale of its budget and staffing.
Los Angeles County spends almost $336 million per year on the office, according to county budget records. The department has more than 1,100 budgeted positions.
County records show Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan leads the department, manages elections, and earns $448,179 annually.
By any measure, Los Angeles County’s election operation is enormous. The county’s voter rolls exceed 5.8 million people, meaning it has more registered voters than the total populations of most U.S. states.
President Donald Trump has also sharply criticized California’s slow count, arguing that late-arriving mail ballots and prolonged delays are undermining confidence in the process.
“The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS,” he posted on Truth Social.
Newsom’s office responded on X by accusing Trump of spreading misinformation and shared a CNN explainer defending the state’s ballot-counting process.
“There is a lot of misinformation floating around about California’s election — including from the President,” the post read.
“And yes, for the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too,” the post concluded.
But critics argue that wishing for faster results is not enough when Democrats control the governor’s office and dominate the state legislature.
The Post said it asked the Registrar’s Office how many employees are currently assigned to ballot processing, whether staffing vacancies exist, why numerous workstations appeared empty despite the major backlog, and whether additional personnel could accelerate the count.
While at the facility, The Post also asked an election center staff member about the rows of unused workstations despite the large number of remaining ballots.
The employee warned the reporters not to be “fooled by what you see.”
When asked to explain further, the staff member reportedly offered no additional comment and walked away.
The contrast with other states has only deepened public frustration.
Several states that also held elections Tuesday have nearly finished counting their ballots. New Jersey has reported roughly 93 percent of ballots counted, while New Mexico and Montana are nearing 98 percent.
California, by comparison, continues to leave voters waiting.
Another Los Angeles County ballot update was expected Thursday evening. But with more than 700,000 ballots still outstanding, experts say it could take weeks before voters know which candidates will advance to the November ballot.
For conservatives, the issue is not merely speed. It is trust.
A system that takes weeks to count ballots, leaves major races unresolved, and appears understaffed despite a massive taxpayer-funded election bureaucracy is a system that invites suspicion.
California officials insist the process is lawful and secure. But for voters watching empty workstations while hundreds of thousands of ballots remain unprocessed, the state’s explanations may only raise more questions.