Cali counted votes until Republican lost — do Dems just not care how bad this looks?

California JUST finished counting votes in the last open House race — and Democrat Adam Gray has ousted defending GOPer John Duarte by fewer than 200 votes.

The race doesn’t change House control, but . . . do Dems simply not give a damn how they look here?

It’s Dec. 4, nearly a full month after the election Dems spent years screaming would be the most important of our lifetimes — Cali leftists chief among them. 

And they still couldn’t get the votes counted in a reasonable amount of time. 

Yes, this is an uber-competitive district that Duarte won by fewer than 600 votes last go round, and he has conceded — in marked contrast to the “only our victories are legitimate” rhetoric Dems have been using ever since Donald Trump’s surprise victory over Hillary Clinton. 

Look at the utterly disgraceful behavior of Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), defeated by Republican David McCormick. 

The Casey example is especially relevant here: After losing and despite having zero numerical path to victory, Casey (abetted by shameless Dem superlawyer Marc Elias) launched a hopeless recount bid on the taxpayer dime to undermine the actual winner before giving up. 

That’s even as Democrats scream about the sanctity of political norms and voter suppression and on and on and on. 

In this context, the refusal of California to handle its elections with anything resembling speed is almost as bad as Casey’s outright denialism. 

And thank goodness this race did not affect the overall majority in the House: Imagine the furor at Cali’s slow-as-molasses-in-January elections apparatus if it had. 

Yet these painfully slow vote counts still undermine faith in both the security and legitimacy of elections and the overall validity of democracy. 

Even when it’s a case of smoke without fire, the public trust is damaged. 

So shape up, California. 

And maybe spend that $25 million Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking for to fund anti-Trump lawsuits on election reform instead.