California: As California is yet to officially announce its US presidential election results even 19 days after polling, billionaire businessman Elon Musk took a swipe at the process, drawing a stark comparison to the mammoth voting processes that India has successfully undertaken during the Lok Sabha elections. Musk pointed out that India counted 640 million votes in just one day, while the US state still continues counting.
Retweeting a post about vote counting in India, Musk wrote, “India counted 640 million votes in 1 day. California is still counting votes,” along with a facepalm emoji to express his resentment.
India counted 640 million votes in 1 day.
California is still counting votes ?♂️ https://t.co/ai8JmWxas6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2024
With 98 per cent of the counting completed in California and the official announcement still pending, news agency Associated Press has called the race, declaring Democratic candidate Kamala Harris the winner with 58.6 per cent of the vote, compared to Republican Donald Trump’s 38.2 per cent.
California, the most populous US, is home to nearly 39 million residents, with over 16 million of them participating in the November 5 election.
Elections in the state are primarily conducted by mail, requiring more time and effort to verify mail-in ballots compared to those cast in person. Each ballot must be individually validated and processed, a more thorough procedure than simply scanning a ballot at a polling station.
The state also allows until December 1 to “cure” problem ballots from voters who made a mistake, such as forgetting their signature, signing in the wrong place or not enclosing their ballot in the proper envelope.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump won the 2024 US election in a historic comeback, defeating Harris. Elon Musk has been nominated as the head of a new ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ under Trump 2.0.
