California Primary: You Won’t Believe How Many Votes Still Not Counted: Numerous Other Votes Believed Missing

There were card reader problems in Kentucky, and New York experienced an election board scandal in which more than 125,000 votes were erased. Now, it has been three days since the 2016 California presidential primary election, and it appears as if Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders handily. But many voters are asking if Hillary actually won.

As of Thursday, nearly 2.6 million ballots are still uncounted, and there are an unknown number of ballots believed to be missing.

According to The Washington Times, there were approximately 2.6 million ballots still uncounted as of Thursday, June 9. California’s Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, said that six million ballots had already been counted, and the remaining uncounted ballots could increase the total voter turnout to approximately 8.6 million. If all the ballots are certified, that will result in a 48 percent voter turnout.

It’s believed that the outstanding ballots are likely not going to have any effect on the final tally other than to increase both candidates’ total in one way or another. As of Friday morning, Hillary Clinton was seen as the presumptive winner with 55.8 percent of the vote or 1,940,580 votes, while Bernie Sanders had 43.2 percent or 1,502,043 votes.

The California primary race has been seen as one of the closest in American history, but many people still feel it could be even closer. One factor that contributed to the problems with the ballot count was that many more voters turned out than originally anticipated.

.@BernieSanders:Our vision: a vision of social, economic, racial & environmental justice MUST BE future of America????????https://t.co/EzE6FKk8UV

— #ForThePeople (@BernieVolunteer) June 9, 2016

Making for an even bigger problem is that many California primary ballots are alleged to be missing. Counter Punch is reporting that votes aren’t just going uncounted, but they are indeed missing. There were a number of reasons all the confusion during the primary voting, and several problems have already been brought to light.

Apparently, poll workers were misinformed in their training in California, and at one point, some trainees were even told, “All NPP [No Party Preference] voters are to be given provisional ballots.” That was actually false, and NPP voters were allowed to ask for a crossover Democratic ballot, but they were not automatically given them at any point.

The Huffington Post also said that many people across the city of Los Angeles were forced to vote provisionally. That was due to a number of problems including voting machines breaking down, and there was no other way to record their ballots.

Other issues included:

• Polling places running out of ballots.
• Voters not finding their names in the roll list.
• Voters learning their registration had been changed.
• Polling places being moved without notice.

This not only caused frustration and chaos, but it caused long waits to vote as many citizens were required to show numerous pieces of identification and proof of registration to cast their ballot. Many voters signed up to vote by mail, but they were never sent their write-in ballots. As a result, a still unknown number of prospective write-in voters were forced to travel to a polling place if they wished to cast their vote.

Many are claiming there was considerable “voter fraud,” and they are demanding action to ferret out the fraudulent votes. As it now stands, a number of concerned citizens believe the race between Clinton and Sanders is not yet over in California, and the primary winner shouldn’t be announced until all votes are properly counted and certified.

One factor that lends credence to the claims of missing votes and voter fraud was the fact that 30 percent (more than 1.5 million) fewer votes were cast this year as compared to eight years ago, according to the current numbers. This leaves many people wondering if there are missing votes, and where those votes might be found. The complaints about missing and mishandled ballots have also caused people to wonder exactly why votes went missing in the first place or if all the votes were counted.

#VoterSuppression #VoterFraud #CaliforniaPrimary #californiavoterfraud #stillcountingvotes #riggedelection #Sanders pic.twitter.com/Qz5ydf4zm9

— Tasha Nicolle (@TashaMason1) June 10, 2016

The California primary was expected to be a huge turning point for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, and it certainly has been. Only a day after the primary, President Obama finally endorsed Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders vowed to work with her to defeat Donald Trump.

However, with millions of votes alleged to be uncounted or missing, is the crowning of Hillary Clinton as the 2016 Democratic candidate for President just a bit premature?

[Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]