Christine Pelosi, a Democrat political strategist and daughter of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, posted a cringeworthy video of herself bragging about “curing ballots” in California.
The Golden State has come under scrutiny this election with its woefully drawn-out vote counting.
RedState Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar has a very helpful explainer for the Golden State’s ballot counting process, including a discussion of ‘cured’ ballots.
She writes:
The California Elections Code requires election officials to notify voters if the ballot is invalid due to no signature or a signature mismatch and give them the opportunity to “cure” that deficiency within a specified period of time so that the ballot can then be counted. It’s not an opportunity to change a vote, and election officials are not allowed to open the ballot.
That said, Pelosi’s video raised eyebrows, first because of how awkward it is. Pelosi, for reasons known only to her, declares her love of curing ballots to the tune of Willie Nelson’s hit song, “On the Road Again.”
“My life, my love is curing ballots with my friends … I can’t wait to get on the road again,” she sings.
🎶On the Road Again …. my life my love is curing ballots with my friends …
join us in #CA13! 🇺🇸 DONATE! https://t.co/6mo1v5vFAn pic.twitter.com/vc4Qqu1q0l— Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) November 20, 2024
Second, she got some attention due to her traveling to California’s 13th congressional district, where the House race between Republican incumbent John Duarte and Democrat Adam Gray has yet to be called.
Pelosi, in an X thread this morning, detailed the reasons for working on the ballot curing in California.
“California has LONG had absentee ballots and the races are decided after each ballot envelope is signature matched. Bipartisan observers are present for the count,” she wrote. “God bless our election workers for their dedication to accuracy and transparency.”
Good Morning California! And hello to all the Democrats, Independents and Republicans curing ballots — let’s each do our part to make sure #EveryVoteCounts! 🇺🇸🗳️
— Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) November 20, 2024
“There are always ballots to CURE — wherein a voter signs an affidavit under penalty of perjury that they are the person whose ballot envelope had a clerical error or ‘mismatched’ signature,” Pelosi added. “REPUBLICANS and DEMOCRATS are curing ballots in California as I type.”
That is true. California campaigns often mobilize supporters to help cure ballots in close contests, and until 2024 the Republicans were actually better at it; Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) won his tight contest in 2020 by only 336 votes thanks to his campaign’s effort to cure ballots. This year, sources tell RedState, Garcia’s campaign again immediately acted to cure ballots, expecting a close race in the D+20 district, but were told by no party preference voters that Whitesides’ campaign had already reached out to them.
This year’s race in California’s 13th congressional district was tight to begin with. Duarte led Gray by nearly 2,000 votes as of Monday. By Tuesday, the lead was down to 348, according to Decision Desk HQ. Over 95% of the votes have been tallied. Duarte won by 564 votes in 2022.
(NOTE: To see Duarte’s race, select the 13th Congressional District in the dropdown menu.)
Jacob Rubashkin, the deputy editor of Inside Elections, wrote on X: “The rematch between Republican Rep. John Duarte and Democrat Adam Gray is once again coming down to the wire.”
“This would be the closest House result of the year!” he added.
The Daily Mail writes, “Posts to the [Christine Pelosi’s] Instagram show how she has volunteered across multiple districts over the past two weeks, seeking to reduce Republicans’ House seats.”
CA-13 is one of four House races yet to be called. The GOP has retained a majority in the chamber having won 218 seats to Democrats’ 213.
As Republicans are well aware, Democrats are always in lockstep with their votes. Expanding the majority as much as possible is crucial to counter that type of unity, especially with House GOP candidates occasionally getting squishy on difficult votes.
