Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday questioned what he called California’s “bizarre” system of accepting mail ballots after another Republican Congressional candidate appeared headed for defeat.
“We were only down 26 seats the night of the election and three weeks later, we lost basically every California race,” said Ryan. “Their system is bizarre; I still don’t completely understand it. There are a lot of races there we should have won.”
Ryan’s comments came after GOP Rep. David Valadao began trailing Democrat TJ Cox in the Central Valley’s 21st District, even though Valadao was declared the winner on Nov. 6.
But California Secretary of State Alex Padilla responded that it was bizarre that Ryan couldn’t understand the California system of accommodating every voter.
“It is bizarre that Paul Ryan cannot grasp basic voting rights protections,” said Padilla. “California works to ensure every ballot is counted properly and every ballot is accounted for. In the most populous state in the nation — and the state with the largest number of registered voters — this takes time.”
“In California, we believe in an inclusive and accessible democracy. We provide voters as many opportunities as possible to cast their ballots. That is why we have no excuse vote by mail, automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, and early voting,” he said.
