California held its statewide primary on June 2. It’s now June 9, and votes are still being counted. That’s not a glitch in the system. That’s by design—and it’s fueling questions about the integrity of the election and renewed efforts to pass the SAVE America Act. Six years ago, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom joined other Democrats to make radical changes to the state’s elections. Then, in 2021, he made those temporary changes permanent. It’s a complete and total mess in California—just like everything @GavinNewsom touches.He signed the law making vote-by-mail permanent for all 23 million registered voters even though the safest and most secure way to vote is to show up at your local polling place. https://t.co/NzEyn70RbM pic.twitter.com/AyJza2T2aT— Rob Bluey (@RobertBluey) June 8, 2026 “Last year we took unprecedented steps to ensure all voters had the opportunity to cast a ballot during the pandemic and today we are making those measures permanent,” Newsom boasted in a Sept. 27, 2021, statement that all registered voters in California would receive a vote-by-mail ballot. For the June 2 primary election, California mailed 23 million ballots to registered voters. What could possibly go wrong? Crying Foul As election officials continue to count, a growing chorus of Republicans are crying foul over reality TV star Spencer Pratt’s precipitous drop from second place in the Los Angeles mayoral contest to third beyond Councilwoman Nithya Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Last week, Pratt appeared poised to make the runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. But mail-in votes for Raman kept her in contention until she overtook him for second. Vice President JD Vance, during a Fox News interview Monday with Jesse Watters, explained why so many Americans are skeptical of the situation. “Karen Bass was in first place, Spencer Pratt was in second place, and then this other woman was in third place,” Vance said. “You would expect these mail-in ballots to kind of meet that same basic pattern, where number one would get the most votes, and number two would get the second most votes, and so on.” Instead, the late-arriving ballots are flipping that order, pushing Pratt out of the top two and setting up a Bass vs. Raman runoff. “That seems pretty shady to me,” Vance added. JUST IN: VP JD Vance CALLS OUT California's rampant fraud and cheating after Spencer Pratt gets thrust behind Nithya Raman due to "late mail-in ballots""You would expect these mail-in ballots to kind of meet that same basic pattern where, number one would get the most votes,… pic.twitter.com/krBqlI77VX— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 9, 2026 Counting Ballots He also flagged something that should alarm everyone: California is not just still counting ballots—it’s still receiving them. Under the law Newsom signed, mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can legally arrive as late as June 9—a full week after polls closed—and still count. Defenders of the vote-by-mail system will tell you that Democrats are more likely to utilize mail-in ballots than Republicans, and that’s why Pratt’s lead evaporated. Even if that’s true, the lengthy delay has led to growing erosion of public confidence in our elections. It’s also not just mail-in ballots that contribute to California’s problems. The state already scores worst in America on The Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard. Heritage analysts cite the state’s lack of voter ID requirements and minimal efforts to ensure the accuracy of voter rolls or the custody and security of mail-in ballots. Fortunately, there’s a plan to help fix this problem. California leftists codified poor election integrity standards into law, which makes fraud easy to get away with. An audit of its voter rolls would destroy the narrative that its elections are above board. They have a lot to hide. https://t.co/5E4heiaq5r— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) June 8, 2026 SAVE America Act Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, introduced the SAVE America Act this year in response to exactly the kind of vulnerabilities reflected in California’s system. The bill does three things: It requires voters to present a photo ID before casting a ballot in federal elections, requires states to obtain proof of citizenship in person when registering voters, and mandates that states remove noncitizens from existing voter rolls. Each of those three provisions is a direct remedy for a specific flaw in California’s system. The state requires no voter ID—and, as Vance noted, actually threatens election officials with jail time for asking. California automatically registers voters through the DMV, a process that opens the door to noncitizens. And its voter rolls are notoriously unclean, with outdated and inaccurate registrations that create opportunities for abuse. “By requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship, the SAVE America Act will ensure that our federal elections are decided by U.S. citizens—and U.S. citizens alone,” Lee and Roy said in a joint statement. California Chaos California’s ballot harvesting laws compound the problem further. Any person is allowed to collect and return a completed ballot on behalf of a voter. The state calls it “third-party ballot collection,” and it is one of the most permissive such laws in the nation. The SAVE America Act also addresses another problem prevalent in California: millions of illegal aliens who entered our country during President Joe Biden’s open-borders era. Those illegal aliens now hold state-issued driver’s licenses, a pathway to illegally register to vote in elections. The SAVE America Act would close that door. In light of the stunningly improbable LA mayoral election results, the Senate should turn immediately to the SAVE America ActAnd keep debating it until it passesLiterally nothing is more important https://t.co/LbrrjNlvPw— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 9, 2026 In the wake of the California chaos, Lee called on the Senate to debate the bill “until it passes,” saying “literally nothing is more important.” “In light of the stunningly improbable LA mayoral election results, the Senate should turn immediately to the SAVE America Act,” Lee posted X. “Name a democratic country with less-secure elections than the U.S. We need voter ID. We need the SAVE America Act.” Lee is right. California is making a compelling case for the SAVE America Act.