California prohibits police from confiscating ballots

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Under a new law that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday, law enforcement officials will be barred from interfering with California’s elections just in time for the June 2 primary.

The law, which takes effect immediately, criminalizes the act of taking ballots from the custody of a local election official, such as Riverside County gubernatorial candidate and sheriff Chad Bianco did earlier this year. when he confiscated more than 600,000 ballots from his own district’s electoral rolls. While Bianco claimed to be looking for evidence of voter fraud, there were no indications that the ballots were issued irregularly.

“We need to step up and put restrictions in place. We need to clarify the rules of the game,” Newsom told reporters before signing the law. “This is a warning to those who believe they can follow orders from the Trump administration.

State lawmakers originally introduced the measure, Senate Bill 73to guard against potential federal interference in California elections, given the Trump administration’s hostility to the state and the president’s desire to keep Congress in GOP hands.

But Bianco’s decision to confiscate ballots turned a hypothetical threat into a real one, prompting lawmakers to seize the moment and rush the bill so it could take effect before Election Day.

The new law prohibits the county clerk from giving ballots or voting equipment to law enforcement officials like Bianco or his deputies. Riverside County Recorder Art Tinoco reportedly broke the law by allowing the sheriff’s department to take the ballots despite a search warrant they had filed.

“Voters should never wonder if the ballots are manipulated,” said the MP. Gail Pellerin one of the Democratic co-sponsors of the bill and former Santa Cruz County Clerk. “Law enforcement powers should never be abused in ways that threaten the integrity of our democratic process.”

The law also reiterates that the attorney general, secretary of state, or local county election officials can sue any person, business, or entity that removes a “package containing ballots” from the custody of an election official.

Election and voting advocates praised the Legislature for its swift response to what they called an “unprecedented” act of local law enforcement confiscating ballots from a polling station.

“This has never happened anywhere in the country,” said Kim Alexander, president of the nonprofit California Voter Foundation. He added that the Legislature’s decision to pass this law shows voters that “they are aware that something unprecedented has happened.”

Lawmakers included safeguards in the law that allow the attorney general and secretary of state to revoke a county election official’s authority under certain circumstances, such as if a registrar allows armed personnel to be stationed near polling centers.

These superior privileges are deliberate, preemptive maneuvers, possibly motivated by the threat of a rogue county election official, such as controversial Shasta County Clerk of Voters Clint Curtis. This self-proclaimed “defender of election integrity” lived in Florida and had no experience administering elections before the county board of supervisors appointed him to the 2024 post.

According to Alexander, lawmakers are looking to ensure that state officials can “override any local attempts to undermine state rules.” “This is not the first time the state has responded to events occurring in Shasta County.”

Curtis joined the 2020 election denialists, publicly expressing skepticism about voting machines and greatly reducing the number of ballot boxes in the county. persons on several allegations of workplace violence and harassment including threats to drag his employees out of his office by pulling their hair. Curtis has denied all charges.

The new law also prohibits anyone from allowing a law enforcement official to “access, disrupt, modify or seize” any voting technology without a court order.
Another provision prohibits election observers from verifying voters’ signatures. Last fall, the United States Department of Justice, at the request of the California Republican Party, announced that it would send observers to the elections in California for the special election over Proposition 50, which has raised concerns that President Donald Trump is interfering in an attempt to change the outcome.

Confiscating ballots is just one way outside actors can interfere in California elections, Alexander said. Another is the state’s lengthy vote-counting process, which has fueled conspiracy theories and baseless claims that the results should not be trusted.

Advocates are pressing Newsom to include about $55 million in the state budget for county election offices to buy new equipment and hire more staff to speed up the recount.

Newsom told reporters on Wednesday that the funding talks were “very, very positive” and that “we will have an agreement on the number very, very soon.”