The bills touch on several aspects of elections, including security, mail-in ballots and the dissemination of deepfakes.
LOS ANGELES (CN) — California Governor Gavin Newsom signed several bills on Saturday intended to safeguard elections, pointing to what he called President Donald Trump’s history of attacking democracy.
The host of bills touch on the improper seizure of ballots and the distribution of misleading audio and video like “deepfakes.” It also expands the time vote-by-mail drop-off locations are open and further restricts the type of activities near polling places through 2029.
Newsom, in a statement, said the new laws fulfill a July 4 promise he made to defend and protect ballots against political interference, especially from the Trump administration.
“Donald Trump won’t stop until he can exert dictatorial control over your free vote and disenfranchise millions of people this November,” Newsom said. “California will stop him at every opportunity. We have no bigger task than fighting to protect the right to vote from interference and meddling — the future of democracy is on the line.”
Golden State Democrats have highlighted the need to protect elections this year. They lambasted Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, after he seized 650,000 ballots in the wake of November’s election to redraw congressional lines. They’ve also pushed back on Trump’s perceived moves to restrict mail-in voting by requiring the postal service to only deliver ballots to verified voters.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday halted any restrictions on ballot delivery by mail.
Assembly Bill 282 — by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, a Santa Cruz Democrat — focuses on the seizure of ballots. It makes seizing ballots, election records or voting technology before an election’s certification a felony.
Senate Bill 259 — by former state Senator Aisha Wahab, a Silicon Valley Democrat now in Congress — makes it a felony to have someone under their authority interfere with delivering or returning vote-by-mail ballots.
Newsom also signed the California Voting Rights Act of 2026 — two bills written by state Senator Sabrina Cervantes, a Riverside Democrat. They prohibit the implementation of any election policy that would dilute the votes of protected classes. They also increase language access services and translated election materials.
“The California Voting Rights Act of 2026 delivers an extra layer of defense for California voters, so they can feel confident their voices will be heard at the polls,” Cervantes said in a statement. “Voters should not have to fight discrimination, language barriers and voter suppression while jumping over endless hurdles as they cast their votes in future elections.”
A handful of bills focus on deceptive election information.
Assembly Bill 502, by Pellerin, modifies existing law that forbids people from knowingly and with malice distributing a campaign ad with significant deceptive content, unless certain criteria are met.
Assembly Bill 686 — by Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Menlo Park Democrat — extends the sunset date to Jan. 1, 2031, for a prohibition on distributing materially deceptive deepfakes. The distributor must have malice and intend to hurt a candidate’s reputation or deceive voters.
Berman also wrote Assembly Bill 1130, which allows the imposition of civil or criminal penalties against someone paid by a campaign committee to post political content online in support or opposition of a candidate or measure, unless that person reveals they’re being paid.
Newsom said Trump and his supporters have attacked the nation’s democratic foundations for years. He pointed to Trump asking the Georgia secretary of state to find enough votes for him to win the state in 2020. Trump also granted pardons and commutations for everyone charged or convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Newsom has recently signed or vetoed dozens of bills. One high-profile veto was of Assembly Bill 1729, which would have required state agencies to give a detailed and written justification if they wanted employees working in the office, as opposed to remotely.
“This measure, by limiting departmental flexibility and encouraging telework to be the default work arrangement, takes the state’s telework policy in the wrong direction,” Newsom said in a veto statement.
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