California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton unleashed sharp criticism of the state’s month-long vote counting process while federal prosecutors announced multiple election fraud investigations, as over three million ballots remain uncounted more than a week after the June 2 primary election.

Federal Investigators Enter the Picture

First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli revealed Friday that his office is conducting multiple election fraud investigations alongside the FBI, while also coordinating a comprehensive audit of California’s voter rolls with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Assistant US Attorney Robert Renner was observed at the Los Angeles County ballot processing center asking detailed questions about counting procedures. The federal intervention comes as California struggles to complete its vote tally, with roughly 340,000 votes separating Hilton from third-place Democrat Tom Steyer.

Hilton, who initially held first place but has fallen to second behind Xavier Becerra, maintains confidence he will advance to the runoff election. However, the continuing count heavily favors Democrats as counties process mail-in ballots that arrived after election day. Los Angeles alone has 251,000 ballots remaining to count, with a Friday evening batch giving Democratic City Councilwoman Nithya Raman substantial gains against Spencer Pratt.

Whistleblowers Raise Red Flags

Speaking on Fox News Thursday evening, Hilton cited United States Postal Service whistleblowers who claim California is counting mail-in ballots without verifying when they were sent. Hilton compared the state’s election system to California’s failed high-speed rail project, calling both monuments to government incompetence. Ventura County announced it would not update vote totals until Tuesday, June 9, a full week after election day, prompting further criticism of the drawn-out process.

Three-Point Reform Proposal

Hilton outlined specific reforms he would implement as governor to restore election integrity. First, mail-in ballots must arrive by election day to be counted. Second, mail-in ballots would only be sent by voter request rather than automatically to everyone on voter rolls, which Hilton notes are riddled with errors. Third, California should adopt Florida’s system of pre-counting ballots to avoid massive backlogs. Hilton contrasted California’s struggle to count fewer than 10 million votes in a month with India’s ability to tally over 640 million votes in a single day, arguing California has become an international embarrassment under Democratic leadership.