Less than a week before the primary election, Governor Gavin Newsom Wednesday signed a bill that aims to safeguard California’s elections and protect ballots while deterring efforts to intimate voters largely by the Trump administration.
State Senate Bill 73, initially introduced by Senators Tom Umberg and Sabrina Cervantes of Southern California, makes it illegal for anyone from seizing ballots from election offices. With Newsom’s signature, it is now crime for law enforcement agencies to take lists of registered voters or voting machines without a warrant.
In response to possible voter intimation, the new law prohibits law enforcement or any armed personnel from guarding polling stations without authorization.
Violators could face up to three years in state prison and a $1,000 fine.
The bill went into effect immediately after Newsom signed it Wednesday afternoon.
The governor refused to name Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco in explaining why signing this bill was “timely.” Bianco, who had seized more than a half a million 2025 election ballots earlier this year to investigate election fraud allegations, was ordered to pause the probe by the California Supreme Court last month.
“You had a guy who’s desperate for attention and wants me to use his name. Today, I won’t,” Newsom said of Bianco, who is running to replace him in the 2026 gubernatorial race, “That took 650,000 (ballots). That happened.”
The outgoing governor admitted that signing SB 73 would not make California Teflon-proof from possible election interference or voter suppression attempts, but he said he’s trying to prepare for curve balls from the Trump administration.
“Every single thing that Donald Trump is saying only suggests that he will do more, not less, to intimidate and to impact the outcome of this election,” Newsom said while reminding Californians that federal agents showed up to Dodger Stadium on Election Day last year. “I absolutely expect the worst again because we’ve been on the receiving end of it over and over and over again.”
Senator Cervantes of Riverside said, after having seeing the ballots seized in her own district by the Riverside County sheriff, the new law will protect the integrity of the elections.
While Newsom had a lot of say about President Trump’s potential attempts to impact this year’s elections, the governor refused to say publicly who he is endorsing as his successor until after the primary election results are in.
“I’m the Jerry Brown of this cycle,” Newsom said, referring to former Governor Brown’s tradition of staying out of gubernatorial races until the top two candidates are selected.