June 8, 2026
The president has been screaming that California elections are rigged. Today, he doubled down, posting several times about California’s crooked election and Republican candidates being cheated out of general election slots.
Now, I don’t cover state news. However, what’s happening in California right now is a good example and, frankly, a preview of what we’re going to see nationwide in November if Republicans do not win in the midterms. We are going to see President Trump screaming about rigged elections, and we will likely see him, in some way, use the federal government to get involved in these states and in their elections. We may also see Democrats claim “rigged” elections if they lose, but right now Democrats don’t control the federal government. The Republicans do. They control the House, Senate, and White House.
Now, that said, I want to inject some sanity into this conversation so that you have some facts in your head about the elections process and you’re better equipped to decide if a rigged election claim is valid or not.
First and foremost, the most important thing you need to remember is that Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution clearly and unequivocally gives the states the power to control their elections in the way they see fit. It also gives Congress the power to create laws to govern those federal elections. The Constitution gives the president of the United States zero power to do anything related to elections. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
However, we have seen this president use the federal government that he controls to open up investigations into elections he believes are rigged, though none of those federal investigations have resulted in any evidence of election fraud. He may also try to deploy ICE agents to observe polling locations in blue states. And who knows what else. We’ll have to see.
Second, you need to know that every state has a different system for how they register voters, how voters cast their ballots, and how the state counts those ballots. Your state’s system is not the same as another state’s system. It’s not better or worse than the other — it’s just different. And just because it’s a different system doesn’t make it fraudulent or rigged.
Every state has laws that govern elections. Now, when it comes to California, they have a law that says mail-in ballots can be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day but arrive seven days after the election. That’s why they’re still counting ballots in California. You might not like that California law. You might think it takes too long to count, but honestly, that’s really not your business. Sorry. That’s the business of California voters.
Now, if California voters hate their own system and think it takes too long to count ballots — and many of them do — California voters can vote for lawmakers who are willing to change election laws in the state. Or Congress can try and pass a law that governs when ballots can be counted for the entire country, but good luck getting that passed.
Third, it’s important to understand that when it comes to U.S. congressional races, state and local races, and local issues, you have to live not only in that state but also in that local area to vote on those specific issues and those specific candidates. That’s standard across the country.
And this Los Angeles mayor’s race — the one Trump keeps saying is rigged because Spencer Pratt is losing — is a great example of people just not understanding the geography of Los Angeles, so they assume the mayor’s race is rigged.
As someone who grew up in Los Angeles, I can tell you the City of Los Angeles is very different from Los Angeles County. Just because you are one of the nearly 10 million people who live in Los Angeles County does not mean you get to vote in the LA mayor’s race. Only about 4 million people live in the City of Los Angeles, and only 2.2 million of them are registered to vote. So they are the only ones who get a say in who is the mayor.
Now, it also matters who is registered to vote in the City of Los Angeles. According to the county Registrar of Voters, there are 1.2 million registered Democrats (1,228,655) and only 327,000 (327,423) registered Republicans who are eligible to vote for LA mayor. So it makes sense that a Republican would not be winning the LA mayor’s primary race.
I mean, it’s not impossible. A Republican could be in the number two slot, especially if all the other registered independent, Green, and Libertarian voters vote Republican. But still, it’s a long shot. It’s a math issue, right?
And fourth, we have a built-in system to deal with election fraud. Not only are there internal systems within the counties and the states, there are also state court and federal court systems to actually litigate any kind of election fraud that anyone believes has occurred. So far, no federal court has ever found any evidence of election fraud in any of the cases President Trump has filed.
So now that you know all this, when you are trying to decide whether a claim that an election was rigged is true or not, you should remember those four key items. And then you have to remember that we have been having elections in this country for hundreds of years. Sometimes your team wins and sometimes they lose. Just because your team loses doesn’t mean the contest was rigged.
Voters by city in LA here.
Voters by state here.
