California is taking steps to Trump-proof its elections as the president and his administration, facing widespread disapproval, float illiberal means to hijack electoral processes and ensure Republicans retain control of Congress.
Trump, who has publicly expressed concerns about facing another impeachment if Democrats retake the House in the fall, has cheered on the Justice Department after officials dubiously acquired voting records for states President Donald Trump lost in 2020, like Georgia and Arizona. The administration has acquired these records while promoting lies about Democratic fraud having cost Trump that election.
To thwart similar gambits, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed a new law that requires anyone, including federal agents, to obtain a court order before accessing voter rolls or election technology. The legislation was finalized just days before Election Day in California, where voters are selecting the two candidates to run in the general election to become Newsom’s successor.
At a press conference to announce the signing, one of its cosponsors, Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin, said pro-Trump Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s disturbing decision in March to seize around 650,000 ballots from California’s special elections last year demonstrated why the legislation was needed. Bianco, as I wrote recently, is a gubernatorial candidate who has struggled to defend his ties to the Oath Keepers, an extremist militia that was involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Newsom was “levying false attacks” at Trump.
But given that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has endorsed sending armed federal agents to the polls in defiance of the law, that Trump has suggested Republicans should “take over” elections in some areas across the country and that the U.S. shouldn’t even hold midterm elections this year and that Trump already fomented one insurrection, it’s absurd gaslighting for the administration to act as though states have no reason to guard against MAGA election interference.
In remarks he posted to social media, Newsom’s warning about Trump and his administration’s illiberal fantasies ring especially true:
“Everything Donald Trump is trying to do — to vandalize truth, to vandalize trust, to rig the election — requires vigilance, and it requires resolve, and with this law, California’s leading to provide the kind of clarity that’s necessary so people know that their vote will be counted,” Newsom said.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.