California
Ballot Security
What Politicians Say
Following the lead of other Western states, California has adopted all-mail elections and other changes to make voting easier.
With roughly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans, the state regularly supports Democratic candidates, but that has not stopped conspiracy theories that make baseless claims of fraud from circulating.
Those claims have been echoed at times by former President Donald Trump and remarks about election “irregularities” from former Speaker Paul Ryan and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who is from California.
Ease of Voting
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, California officials made a temporary move to vote-by-mail, sending ballots to more than 22 million voters in 2020. The change proved so popular that Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law making all-mail elections permanent.
That law also expanded a system that lets voters see whether their mail-in ballot has been counted and required local elections administrators to provide more ballot boxes as early as 28 days before the election.
Newsom also signed another bill that expanded the state’s motor voter program, requiring that every application for a driver’s license or ID card, renewal or change of address notification include a voter registration application.
Ballot Security
California’s expansive voting laws could lead to delays in counting ballots and certifying elections, potentially undermining voter confidence and opening the door to challenges.
For example, the same bill that made vote-by-mail permanent also extended the deadline for elections offices to receive a ballot from three days after the election to seven days, lengthening the counting time.
How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election
Seven of the state’s 10 Republican US representatives objected to Biden electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania on Jan. 6 and four signed an amicus brief in support of a Texas lawsuit before the Supreme Court.
McCarthy also has made debunked claims of election irregularities following the 2018 midterms, pointing to races in which ballots that arrived after Election Day proved decisive for Democrats, a well-known phenomenon caused by procrastinating voters known as the “blue shift.”