Gov. Gavin Newsom has delivered a shot across the bow to the perceived threat of election interference by President Donald Trump by signing legislation that includes possible prison terms for anyone who takes away marked ballots from local election officials.
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“California will not allow our elections to be commandeered by political intimidation, abuse of power, or chaotic interference from extremists chasing conspiracy theories,” Newsom said in a Wednesday, May 27, news release.
SB 73, which takes effect immediately, also tries to prevent a repeat of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure earlier this year of more than 650,000 ballots cast in November’s Proposition 50 election.
Bianco did not immediately respond Thursday, May 28, to a request for comment.
SB 73 makes it illegal for anyone to give unauthorized access to voter rolls, voter lists or certified voting technology to law enforcement “absent a court order or investigation into specific violations of California election law,” according to a news release from the governor’s office.
It also restricts law enforcement from interfering with election workers as they do their jobs unless there’s a public safety emergency. And SB 73 makes it illegal — and punishable by a prison term of up to three years, a $1,000 fine or both — to take marked ballots from the custody of a county registrar of voters.
Bianco, a Republican candidate for governor, is investigating an allegation by a citizen’s election watchdog group of a 45,000-vote gap between Proposition 50 ballots cast and received in Riverside County.
Bianco has said his investigators want to count the seized ballots to determine if that gap exists and if so, what caused it. His investigators obtained search warrants from a judge to secure the ballots and related election materials.
The actual gap between ballots cast and received is just 103 votes, well within the acceptable margin of error, according to the county’s registrar of voters.
The prospect of federal agents seizing voting machines, confiscating ballots and voter rolls and intimidating voters outside polls alarms Democrats, who are expected to ride a wave of anti-Trump voter sentiment and win the House of Represenatives and possibly the Senate in the November midterm elections.
Trump falsely claims he lost the 2020 presidential election because of voter fraud. Despite this, the FBI earlier this year seized 2020 election ballots cast in Fulton County, Georgia, and subpoenaed 2020 ballots and elections materials from Maricopa County, Arizona. Trump narrowly lost both states.
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Trump told The New York Times in January that he regrets not using the National Guard to seize voting machines after the 2020 election. And Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump ally and adviser, suggested deploying federal immigration enforcement officers to polling sites during the midterms.
“Senate Bill 73 is a direct response to efforts by the Trump Administration and local electeds to dismantle our democracy piece by piece,” the bill’s lead author, state Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, D-Riverside, said in a news release.
“The enactment of SB 73 protects Californians’ sacred right to vote free from fear of intimidation or interference and safeguards the essential integrity of elections in California.”
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said via email: “Just a few days ago, Newscum bragged about a ‘break-the-glass scenario’ where he could ‘shape the future’ if he didn’t like the results of an election. Has he explained himself yet?”
Jackson added: “Instead of levying false attacks at the President, Newscum should look in the mirror. Meanwhile, President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections.”
While Bianco has defended his ballot investigation as necessary to preserve the public’s faith in elections, critics argue the probe does the opposite.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued to stop the investigation, which the state Supreme Court paused in April pending further judicial review.
But Cervantes’ office said the seized Riverside County ballots “can no longer be used in potential future investigations or audits because the chain of custody was broken.”
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SB 73 passed the Senate by a 29-8 vote and the Assembly by a 57-19 vote.