President Trump claimed Democrats are “trying to steal” the elections in California, as the results from races that were expected to take days or even weeks to be decided continue to trickle in.

California tends to not be able to finalize the results of elections for some time after election day because of the state’s rules surrounding voting, including how mail-in votes are handled. Mail-in voting has long been an irritation of Trump’s.

“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 Truth Social early Thursday. “Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

In another post, he said there’s “BIG cheating” by the California Democrats.

“Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks,” he wrote.

Trump said the votes are “under investigation” by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, but he didn’t say whether he was the one who called for the probe.

“Why the vote counting DELAY???” he said.

The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) hit back at the president on social media, saying he’s “lying about California again.”

In California, mail-in ballots are allowed to be counted as long as they are dropped off by 8 p.m. local time, postmarked by election day and get to county election offices by the next Tuesday.

State law also says election officials can begin processing mail-in ballots when voters send them back, which cannot be later than 29 days ahead of the election. This year that date was be May 5.

Newsom has acknowledged that the longer it takes to count the mail-in ballots, the “more mis- and disinformation spreads.”

“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,” he wrote in a letter last month to county clerks and election officials.

Data released by the California secretary of state showed that as of Monday, more than 4.2 million mail-in ballots were returned and accepted in the state.

According to The Associated Press, 56 percent of the vote has been counted in the gubernatorial race, with GOP candidate Steve Hilton leading with 27.6 percent of the vote, followed by Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra with 25.6 percent.

The two candidates who receive the most votes will head to the general election.

Trump has railed against mail-in voting in the past and signed an executive order in March that would require the federal government to establish a list of eligible voters based on citizenship data and direct the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver ballots to those approved.

Max Rego contributed to this report.

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