From the Victorville, California based Daily Press:

More close races, high voter turnout and evolving voting habits have combined to make the job of tallying votes by the San Bernardino County Elections Office increasingly difficult. The midterm election was Nov. 6. Vote totals were certified on Dec. 6. The intervening month illustrates how complex the ballot-counting process can be.

Elections office employees had to deal with the highest midterm election turnout in at least 20 years. They are also handling more mail-in ballots. In a reflection of national trends, more county residents are voting via mailbox than going to the polls.

A third factor that complicates vote-counting is a change in state law that occurred before the midterm election. The new law gives absentee voters a chance to verify their ballots if their signatures do not match the one on file. The law change effectively increases voter participation.

See full article here.