“[Speaking about California in February 2025] they were voting a week and a half ago.”

White House remarks to the National Governors Association

California's November 2024 count was long over. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber certified the complete statewide results of the November 2024 election on December 13, 2024, more than two months before Trump made this claim. PolitiFact rated the statement False.

Congress then certified the Electoral College results, including Trump's own victory, on January 6, 2025, six weeks before he told governors Californians "were voting a week and a half ago." Some Californians were voting in February 2025, but only in local special elections: Governor Newsom called special elections for Senate District 36 and Assembly District 32 with a February 25, 2025 primary, and every active registered voter in Senate District 36 was mailed a ballot. Those contests are not the statewide results he said California had just finished.

What actually happens is counting, not voting: California law gives local election officials 30 days after Election Day to verify and count every eligible ballot, a deliberate accuracy safeguard. As former Republican Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman noted, "We have never officially known the results of a presidential or other elections on election night." Media projections come first, and official certification follows in every state. "We have never officially known the results of a presidential or other elections on election night." — Kim Wyman, Republican former Washington Secretary of State, to PolitiFact