California’s famously slow vote-counting process could see slight improvements next year after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that gives counties an earlier deadline to tally voters’ ballots.

The law, Assembly Bill 5 , requires county election offices to count ballots no later than 13 days after election day, but does not change the 30-day deadline for local officials to certify results. Counties unable to meet the new deadline must give a reason for an extension to the secretary of state’s office.

“California has one of the most accessible and secure voting systems in the country,” said the bill’s author, Assemblymember Marc Berman , a Menlo Park Democrat, in a statement. “One opportunity for improvement was to speed up how quickly we count ballots and create a system that gave g

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