Orange County, Calif. -- “When we are elected, we are hired by the voters to work for the people,” said Don Wagner, the only candidate running to replace the current Secretary of State, Shirley Weber. “Going over budget, making costly errors, avoiding your 'employers', not sticking to a schedule…these are typical reasons for getting fired.”

“The Secretary of State’s Office put out a flawed voter guide and spent millions fixing it but wasted no time in producing expensive ads to justify Weber's failures. The counting process is the slowest in the nation and creates mistrust in our system on both sides of the political aisle,” said Don Wagner. “Fresh off wasting millions on gerrymandering and messing up the voter guide, Weber is now wasting taxpayer’s money to justify her failed leadership. No more excuses, Shirley - do your job! This is why we need a new Secretary of State, one who believes in accurate and timely counting.”

As of Veterans Day, a full week after the election, Shirley Weber's office still reports a huge number of ballots left to count statewide. California is notorious for its slow vote counts. While other major states finish their vote counts in hours, California often takes 30 days to process ballots. In addition to support for a Voter ID process, Wagner has supported a list of common-sense election reforms that include the requirements that voters be registered to vote seven days prior to the election; the return to the pre-Covid system of absentee ballots by request only and the end of mailing ballots to everyone; the requirement that ALL ballots (mailed, returned to drop boxes and turned in by person) be RECEIVED by 8:00 PM on Election Day; and, a ban on third-party, mass ballot harvesting.

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