An investigation by CBS News’ Los Angeles-based affiliate, KCAL-9, has determined that “hundreds” of dead people are still voting in California.

“CBS2 compared millions of voting records from the California Secretary of State’s office with death records from the Social Security Administration and found hundreds of so-called dead voters,” according to investigative reporter David Goldstein.

“Specifically, 265 in Southern California and a vast majority of them, 215, in Los Angeles County alone.”

The voters are genuinely dead, but others are voting in their names, often through vote-by-mail.

While it is not clear how the “so-called dead voters” voted, 86 were registered Republicans, and 146 were registered Democrats. Votes have been cast on behalf of some dead individuals for decades, over several election cycles.

Their votes diluted the votes of living people, whose choices count less when weighed against votes cast fraudulently.

The possibility of voter fraud in Southern California is a particularly acute problem in the run-up to the June 7 California primary, where the presidential campaigns of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are focused on vote-rich Los Angeles and surrounding areas.

Roughly two-thirds of primary ballots are expected to be cast by mail. California does not have a photo ID requirement to vote, and is the only state out of compliance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002, Goldstein says, making voter rolls less accurate.

“The problem is California has been the most derelict state in the country in implementing statewide databases that are required under federal law. They just blew it off for over a decade,” former Department of Justice attorney J. Christian Adams told Goldstein.

The Obama administration has consistently argued that new laws to improve ballot security and voter transparency, like voter ID, are racist efforts to exclude minorities, and are unnecessary because voter fraud rarely happens.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to launch an investigation into the problem following KCAL-9’s report.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new e-book, Leadership Secrets of the Kings and Prophets: What the Bible’s Struggles Teach Us About Today, is on sale through Amazon Kindle Direct. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.