President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Democrats of trying to influence the outcomes of California's gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral primary elections by benefiting from late-arriving mail-in ballots.

"The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump also criticized the pace of vote counting.

"Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS," he wrote.

In a separate post, Trump alleged widespread election misconduct.

"There's BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks. Under investigation by the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting DELAY???" Trump wrote.

Trump did not identify the candidates he was referring to or provide evidence to support his allegations.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office pushed back on Trump's allegations.

"Trump is lying about California again — time to take the phone away from grandpa and put him to sleep," the Governor Newsom Press Office wrote on X.

Under California law, mail-in ballots are valid if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at county election offices by June 9, reports The Hill.

Ballots will continue to be counted after Election Day during the canvass period, and county elections officials must report final official results to the Secretary of State by July 3.

The Secretary of State's office will certify the results on July 10. 

At this time, Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton are leading in the gubernatorial primary, with Hilton holding the lead. The two leading candidates advance to the general election in November, regardless of party.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, is facing two main challengers: Nithya Raman, a liberal City Council member, and Spencer Pratt, a Republican reality TV star, who ran after his house burned in the Palisades fire.

If a candidate in the mayoral race wins a majority of the primary vote, they win the election outright, but otherwise, the top candidates will advance to the general election in November.

State law allows election officials to begin processing vote-by-mail ballots up to 29 days before an election. This year, voters could begin returning completed ballots to secure county drop boxes on May 5, according to Weber's office.

California lawmakers have also taken steps to speed up vote counting.

Assembly Bill 5, signed into law by Newsom in October, reduced the time counties have to count most ballots from 30 days to 13 days after an election.

The law applies to provisional ballots and ballots requiring signature verification. Counties that cannot meet the deadline must file a notice explaining the delay with the Secretary of State's office.

Assembly Bill 626, signed into law in 2023, allows counties to process certain vote-by-mail ballots returned on Election Day as in-person votes.

Thirty-one of California's 58 counties offer that option, according to the California Voter Foundation. Los Angeles County does not.

In a letter last month to county clerks and election officials, Newsom stressed the importance of timely vote counting.

"We must acknowledge that the longer the voting count takes, the more mis- and disinformation spreads," Newsom wrote. "That means we must do all that we can to tabulate votes quickly and accurately. Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking hold."

As of Monday, more than 4.2 million vote-by-mail ballots had been returned and accepted statewide, according to the Secretary of State's office. More than 23.3 million voters were sent mail ballots, including nearly 6 million in Los Angeles County and more than 2 million in San Diego County.

Election officials have accepted more than 98.9% of returned mail ballots, according to Weber's office.