[logician2u]

Or that's been their SOP I was aware of. Just where is it SOP to not count absentee ballots unless it's "close?"

I'd be curious.

[Fledermaus]

In the 1996 and 2000 Presidential elections, I read stories that since Clinton and Gore won those states so handidly, California didn't bother to count the absentees.

But that does sound suspicious since there are usually other things on the ballots. Maybe those reporters were referring to just the counting of the President or U.S. Senate votes. I do remember it coming up during Florida 2000 when some pundit was arguring the concept of "all votes cast should count" with some Gore person.