A candid moment on CNN’s late-night coverage of the Michigan Democrat Senate primary led to an unfavorable mention of the nation’s worst election system. California caught a stray due to its inability to count votes in a timely manner.Watch as CNN’s Elex Michaelson and Harry Enten yuk it up at California’s expense: WATCH: California's election system is such a national punchline that CNN on-air talents openly joke about itELEX MICHAELSON: I just want to say, Harry, as a Californian, it's amazing that people count overnight. This idea… HARRY ENTEN: Who knew? Who knew? We don't…… pic.twitter.com/PN0CHccxB5— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 5, 2026 ELEX MICHAELSON: I just want to say, Harry, as a Californian, it's amazing that people count overnight. This idea… HARRY ENTEN: Who knew? Who knew? We don't…MICHAELSON: Yeah, that we could be getting more numbers because that doesn't happen very much out here. So we appreciate…yeah.ENTEN: I would just end by saying this. Imagine if the election were this close out in California, we might not find out who wins until Hanukkah. That's all I would say.MICHAELSON: Happy Hannukah to you and to everybody that’s watching. Harry Enten. Thank you so much for all of that.ENTEN: Thank you, my friend. To be clear: Michigan is no Florida, where absentee (mail) and early votes are counted as they come in, and no mail ballot is counted if it isn’t in on the morning of Election Day. This leaves only Election Day votes to be counted on Election Day, which means you know statewide results well before midnight.In Not Florida, or Michigan, this is clearly not the case. 91% of the vote in the Democrat Senate primary was counted as of this writing, with much of the outstanding votes remaining in Wayne County (Detroit). This isn’t great, but is certainly miles better than in California, where it took 40-plus days to count votes in the recent primary election. I’m tempted to call that a sub-Third-World system but don’t want to insult the Third World.How embarrassing for the Golden State to have its election system be the subject of mockery on national television. And how awful for democracy.