California sees massive surge in Republican votes as more than 900K ballots already returned | 17 May 2026 | Early voters in the Golden State have already returned more than 900,000 ballots ahead of the June 2 Primary, showing a massive surge in Republican votes compared to four years ago for the governor’s race. A post on Saturday from the research firm Political Data (PDI) showed that out of 905,889 ballots that have been returned, 37% were from Republicans, with Republican returns up 11% compared to the same stage of the 2022 midterms. More shocking is the fact that the data showed 41% of Democrats who have returned their ballots, down 13 points from the same moment in the primary election four years ago. When comparing the 2022 numbers to 2026 the difference is stark. [Right, but all that matters is who or what *counts* the votes. And therein lies the rub…]