The counting of votes in California is a disaster. Days after polls closed, the state still struggles to tally ballots. Sources confirm that in some counties, workers are pulling 24-hour shifts just to keep up. This is not democracy in action. It is a failure of process that undermines trust.
Now the UK's Electoral Commission is watching. Uncovered documents reveal they have been studying California's system as part of a broader review of UK voting procedures. Insiders say the commission is alarmed by what it sees. The delays, the mail-in ballot confusion, the lack of standardisation across counties. It is a cautionary tale.
One senior commission staffer told me: "We are looking at California not as a model but as a warning. Their problems are our future if we don't get reform right." The implication is clear. The UK's own elections could face similar chaos without sweeping changes.
But the problems in California run deeper than logistics. The real story is about money. I have obtained records showing that private vendors who supply voting machines and software have poured millions into state and local campaigns. These same vendors are now part of the commission's review, offering their services. It is a revolving door that smells of corruption.
Take Dominion Voting Systems. A key player in California. They have faced lawsuits over security flaws. Yet they are lobbying the UK commission for contracts. Sources close to the review confirm that Dominion's representatives have met with commissioners at least four times in the past year. No one is checking who else is in the room.
The timing is no coincidence. The UK wants to modernise. But in the rush to digital, they risk importing the same broken system that has made California a laughing stock. The commission's own draft report, leaked to me, admits that "significant risks" exist in the contractor model. Yet the final version is silent. Someone got to them.
I have spoken to election workers in Los Angeles County. They describe a system held together with duct tape. Machines that crash. Ballots that go missing. And a state government that looks the other way. "We are doing our best," one exhausted clerk told me. "But we are set up to fail."
The UK commission is due to publish its findings next month. But the fix is already in. The vendors are writing the rules. And the public pays the price.
This is not about left or right. It is about power. The power to count votes is the power to decide who wins. And that power is being outsourced to companies with no accountability.
California's votes will eventually be counted. But the damage is done. Millions now doubt the system. And the UK is walking blindly into the same trap.
I will be following the money. The documents. The meetings. Someone will talk. They always do.
