Feds Launch ‘Election Fraud’ Probes in California as Ballot Count Sparks Outrage

Federal prosecutors in California say they are now pursuing “multiple” election fraud investigations as questions mount over the state’s slow ballot counting process and its heavily used mail-in voting system.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Friday that his office has several election-related investigations underway in coordination with the FBI’s Los Angeles office.

The announcement came after President Trump accused California Democrats of “cheating” in the state’s primary election and claimed a federal investigation was already underway.

Essayli did not confirm any specific case tied to Trump’s claims, but he made clear that federal authorities are watching.

“We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent,” Essayli wrote on X.

His office also confirmed that Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Renner visited a Los Angeles County ballot processing center Friday to observe the vote-counting process.

Local officials insisted the visit was routine.

A spokesperson for Dean Logan, the head of the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk’s office, said observers are regularly allowed inside ballot processing facilities by appointment.

But the timing immediately raised eyebrows.

California is still counting millions of ballots, days after the primary, fueling renewed criticism from Republicans who have long blasted the state’s drawn-out election process and its reliance on mail ballots.

According to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office, about 5.6 million ballots had been processed by Thursday evening, while an estimated 3.6 million ballots were still left to count.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, who was leading in the race, said Friday that he still expects to advance to the November election. But he slammed the state’s slow count as an embarrassment.

“This shambles is absolutely shameful for our state,” Hilton said.

President Trump suggested Democrats were trying to rig the process to keep Hilton out of the general election, though he did not provide evidence to support that specific claim.

Democratic officials fired back, accusing Trump of trying to undermine faith in the election before all the votes are counted.

California officials say the slow count is not suspicious, but instead the result of carefully processing millions of ballots, including large numbers of mail ballots that were sent in on Election Day.

“Taking the time to do this work correctly protects voters’ rights and ensures the integrity of our elections,” Weber said Thursday.

But Essayli argued that California’s election system has “serious structural vulnerabilities,” pointing specifically to the state’s mail ballot system and voter verification rules.

He said those policies create conditions where fraud can potentially go undetected and unpunished, weakening public confidence in elections.

California officials dispute that characterization and say the state does have safeguards, including signature verification.

Essayli also revealed that his office is working with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, on what he described as a “comprehensive audit” of California’s voter rolls.

That effort has already sparked a legal fight.

The Justice Department previously sued California over access to its voter rolls, but a federal judge threw out the lawsuit, calling the demand “unprecedented and illegal.” The case is now before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Essayli accused the state of resisting federal efforts to verify that only eligible U.S. citizens are registered to vote.

“My office will not look the other way,” Essayli wrote. “We will investigate and prosecute. Every legal vote deserves to be counted. Every illegal vote cancels one out.”

Essayli also pointed to a recent case in which a woman pleaded guilty to paying homeless people on Skid Row to help qualify initiatives for the California ballot.

“Yes. There is evidence of election fraud in California,” he wrote. “Here’s a case we charged just last month. More investigations are underway.”

Election experts have long said voter fraud does happen, but usually in isolated cases. They also argue there is no proof of widespread fraud large enough to change election outcomes.

Still, for many Republicans, California’s slow-counting system and widespread mail voting continue to raise major concerns.

Democrats, meanwhile, are accusing Trump and his allies of trying to create doubt before the final results are known.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office was also monitoring activity at the Los Angeles County ballot facility and was prepared to protect voters and enforce state election law.

Sen. Adam Schiff blasted Trump’s accusations as a “blatant attempt” to cast doubt on the results.

“California has safe and secure elections,” Schiff wrote on X. “And it takes time for every vote to count.”

For now, federal prosecutors are not saying exactly what they are investigating.

But Essayli’s message was unmistakable: California’s election system is under federal scrutiny, and prosecutors say they are prepared to act if they find wrongdoing.