US attorney opens investigations into California’s elections, sends prosecutor to LA vote center

The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles opened multiple election fraud investigations related to California’s elections and dispatched a prosecutor to the county’s vote-counting center on Friday. The move followed President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of mass fraud in California’s primary, where late-tallied Democratic-leaning mail ballots reduced vote totals for his preferred candidates in races for governor and Los Angeles mayor. The announcement by U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, a Trump appointee, marked an escalation in the president’s campaign against California, which has faced scrutiny over its prolonged vote-counting process. Essayli posted on X about ongoing investigations, citing “serious structural vulnerabilities” in California’s elections. An assistant U.S. attorney visited the Los Angeles County ballot tabulation center, observing the public oversight program and reviewing ballot-processing operations. Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, Trump’s favored candidate, proposed major changes to California’s election laws, including limiting mail ballots to those who request them and eliminating the seven-day grace period for postmarked ballots. Hilton suggested sending state workers to assist with vote-counting but election officials, including Jesse Salinas of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officers, dismissed the idea as impractical and potentially disruptive. Salinas noted that election workers are already overwhelmed with processing mail ballots, and additional staff would require training, further complicating operations. The sluggish vote count has drawn criticism, with Hilton calling California a “national and international laughingstock.” Meanwhile, Trump continued to claim without evidence that Democrats are rigging the election, despite his administration’s past acknowledgment that late vote totals reflect legitimate mail ballots.