The nation is again waiting on California to finish tallying votes almost a week after Election Day.

The state has most of the remaining undecided races that will determine the balance of power in the House, and its slow vote-counting process has drawn greater scrutiny — and some scorn — as each day goes by.

While many states tallied the bulk of their ballots within hours of polls’ closing on Tuesday, California still had nearly five million to count going into this holiday weekend, just under a third of all of the ballots that were cast there.

Leaders in California, the nation’s most populous state, defend the deliberate process as necessary to ensure that the tallies are accurate and that as many voters participate as possible. They say their generous provisions for voters give the public greater confidence.

The delay in full results has left Americans wondering why the balance of power in the House is yet to be known. It has also opened avenues for disinformation, with Democrats and Republicans seizing upon the incomplete results as evidence of voter fraud or manipulation.