“India counts 600 million + ballots in a day. California counts less than 10 million in a MONTH,” Republican candidate for governor Steve Hilton noted in an “Election Shambles Update” regarding the state’s long-delayed primary results. Since California’s primary polls closed last Tuesday, June 2, results have shifted dramatically in favor of Democrat candidates as mail-in ballots - which can be received up to a week after Election Day - are counted. But, even after all the mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days are collected, the process of validating and counting the ballots can continue for another three weeks. In contrast, India did, indeed, count 640 million votes in a single day for its June 2024 election. “As governor I will replace this absurd system. We cannot have another election that makes us look like a ‘failed state’, as @NateSilver538 put it,” Hilton wrote in his Election Shambles Update posted on X.com. To do that, Hilton would have to finish with one of the top two most votes in the June 2 primary, then win the general election in November. But, nearly a week after Election Day, votes continue to arrive for processing and counting, leaving Hilton’s fate in doubt. In India, however, all mail-in ballots must be received before counting starts (usually two days after Election Day) and all mail-in ballots must be counted first. India adopted the mail-in policy because of concerns about irregularities in 2019 under the previous practice of allowing late-arriving, postmarked ballots, as Newsweek explains: “To address past concerns, the country's Supreme Court mandates that postal ballots be counted and declared before other others are counted. This change addressed issues from the 2019 elections when procedure was not followed, leading to outcry in closely contested constituencies.” A step-by-step breakdown of how India is able to count 640 million votes in a single day is detailed in an article published by The Better India.