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For a faster vote count in California, look to the Supreme Court

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Saturday’s batch of 58,558 late-counted votes in the mayor’s race broke 40.2% for Nithya Raman, 33% for Karen Bass and a mere 17.6% for Spencer Pratt — no doubt a reflection of late-voting Democrats in a city where only about 16% of voters are registered Republican. 

Pratt’s lead for the second runoff spot has been slashed to just 7,494 votes, with an estimated 150,000 mayoral ballots still outstanding, and potentially more arriving with a June 2 postmark. One more update like this and Pratt sinks to third place.

That is not a theoretical debate about election law.

That is a live campaign being reshaped after Election Day.

The election was Tuesday. Yet California voters will spend much of the next week — and in some contests longer — waiting for ballots to arrive, be transferred, verified, and counted. It leaves voters confused, campaigns stalled and candidates stuck in limbo when they should be preparing for the next stage of the race.

This has become normal here.

Elections are supposed to have a finish line. California has built a system where Election Day often marks the beginning of the final counting period, not the moment when the public can expect a result.

But California’s endless election calendar may soon collide with federal law.

The US Supreme Court is expected to release more opinions this month as it finishes its term. One pending case could fundamentally alter how California handles vote-by-mail ballots.

California law allows vote-by-mail ballots to arrive up to seven days after Election Day and still be counted, as long as they are postmarked on........

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