{"id":257853,"date":"2026-04-08T17:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257853\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T17:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:11:10","slug":"house-democrats-gather-in-la-to-discuss-election-security-and-integrity-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257853\/","title":{"rendered":"House Democrats gather in LA to discuss election security and integrity \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congressional Democrats are quick to dismiss President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s allegations of widespread voter fraud, but they\u2019re also taking seriously his comments that he wants to \u201cnationalize\u201d elections, impose strict proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements and do away with vote-by-mail ballots.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why a dozen House Democrats \u2014 mostly from Southern California \u2014 gathered for a shadow hearing in Los Angeles on Tuesday to hear from election experts and voter rights advocates about whether California\u2019s elections are secure and what more can be done to combat voter suppression and instill public confidence in the integrity of the state\u2019s election system.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.<\/p>\n

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, speaks at a shadow hearing at the Japanese American National Museum on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The hearing addressed the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of attempting to \u201crig\u201d the elections and engage in voter suppression. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks at a shadow hearing at the Japanese American National Museum on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The hearing addressed the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of attempting to \u201crig\u201d the elections and engage in voter suppression. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New York Rep. Joseph Morelle speaks at a shadow hearing at the Japanese American National Museum on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The hearing addressed the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of attempting to \u201crig\u201d the elections and engage in voter suppression. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Democratic<\/p>\n

Democratic Reps. Derek Tran, Gil Cisneros and Nanette Barragan attend a shadow hearing at the Japanese American National Museum on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The hearing addressed the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of attempting to \u201crig\u201d the elections and engage in voter suppression. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Democratic<\/p>\n

Democratic Reps. Judy Chu and Laura Friedman attend a shadow hearing at the Japanese American National Museum on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The hearing addressed the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of attempting to \u201crig\u201d the elections and engage in voter suppression. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Democratic<\/p>\n

Democratic Rep. Norma Torres attend a shadow hearing at the Japanese American National Museum on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The hearing addressed the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of attempting to \u201crig\u201d the elections and engage in voter suppression. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Democratic<\/p>\n

Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez attend a shadow hearing at the Japanese American National Museum on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The hearing addressed the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of attempting to \u201crig\u201d the elections and engage in voter suppression. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 7<\/p>\n

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, speaks at a shadow hearing at the Japanese American National Museum on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The hearing addressed the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of attempting to \u201crig\u201d the elections and engage in voter suppression. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s unofficial hearing was convened by New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, which has oversight of federal elections.<\/p>\n

It was held at the Japanese American National Museum, which is also home to the Democracy Center. The center\u2019s stated mission<\/a> includes exploring \u201cthe rights, freedoms and fragility of democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morelle said the purpose of the hearings \u2014 another is scheduled for later this week in San Francisco \u2014 is to hear from election and voting rights experts and to build a roadmap for enacting election reforms after the midterms if Democrats regain control of the House.<\/p>\n

Time and again, the panel of experts invited to provide testimony said voter fraud is exceedingly rare and that there is no evidence of widespread cheating.<\/p>\n

Jenny Farrell, executive director of the League of Women Voters of California, also praised California\u2019s election system, calling it secure, accessible and run by professionals who take their roles seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia\u2019s elections are strong. We\u2019re like the Dodgers of elections,\u201d Farrell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is not to fix a broken system. It is to protect a working one from unnecessary and harmful interference,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Congressional Democrats, during the hearing, accused Republicans of attempting to suppress voter turnout ahead of this year\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to undermine one of the pillars of democracy, which is free and fair elections,\u201d said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. \u201cThat\u2019s what we want to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson, meanwhile, maintained that election integrity is a priority for Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American people sent him back to the White House because they overwhelmingly supported his commonsense election integrity agenda,\u201d Jackson said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president will do everything in his power to defend the safety and security of American elections and to ensure that only American citizens are voting in them,\u201d she continued, adding that Congress should pass Trump\u2019s SAVE America Act<\/a>, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote for federal elections.<\/p>\n

And although the lawmakers at the hearing said they have faith in California\u2019s election system, some raised concerns that the Trump administration may attempt to interfere with the elections<\/a>, including by potentially sending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling locations that could intimidate voters.<\/p>\n

A White House spokesperson referred back to comments that press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave to reporters<\/a> in February when she said she couldn\u2019t guarantee that immigration agents wouldn\u2019t be around voting locations, but she had not heard Trump discuss any formal plans to place ICE agents outside such sites.<\/p>\n

During the special election on redistricting last year, the Trump administration sent federal monitors<\/a> from the Department of Justice to select counties, including Los Angeles and Orange, to observe what was going on at voting locations.<\/p>\n

Although nothing much came of those visits, it had state and local officials on high alert, just as when the FBI raided and seized ballots from Fulton County<\/a> in Georgia in January.<\/p>\n

And more recently, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running for governor, seized ballots from the local election office<\/a> as part of an investigation his department launched after some county residents questioned if ballots were properly counted. That case is now tied up in court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rep. Nanette Barrag\u00e1n, D-San Pedro, said the Trump administration\u2019s ongoing immigration enforcement efforts<\/a> have caused U.S. citizens and people in the country legally to fear encounters with immigration agents. That could become an issue if ICE agents are sent to polling places.<\/p>\n

But suggesting people vote by mail as an alternative to going to the polls isn\u2019t always ideal, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do appreciate the concept of pushing more people to vote by mail, but I have to tell you, Latino communities, we don\u2019t like to vote by mail,\u201d Barrag\u00e1n said. \u201cWe like to go to the polls. And so there\u2019s got to be a way \u2026 to encourage people to do that. And some people also don\u2019t trust the mail system right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Republicans are expecting Democrats to just sit idly by \u2026 Democrats are getting out in the community, raising the alarm bells about the GOP\u2019s efforts to rig these elections and fighting back in the courts, in Congress and in our communities,\u201d Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of Redlands said.<\/p>\n

As a result of concerns about potential election interference moving forward, the head of one nonpartisan group that advocates for voter rights and reforms to improve fair representation in the electoral process told lawmakers Tuesday that his organization plans to deploy people to act as ballot-counting monitors in the upcoming June primary election.<\/p>\n

Darius Kemp, executive director of Common Cause California, said his organization has sent election monitors to polling places for decades, but this will be the first time it will roll out a pilot program focused on monitoring the ballot counting. Kemp said the decision stemmed from the situation in Riverside County and concerns that the Trump administration may send people in to seize ballots.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members are worried that, \u2018Oh, are my ballots going to be scooped up by some random sheriff or elected official who claims improprieties and fraud with no actual real evidence of improprieties or any fraud?\u2019\u201d Kemp said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be responsive to these new challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s shadow hearing \u2014 these are convened by a minority party in Congress to bring attention to an issue \u2014 was the first such gathering held by House Democrats on the topic. A second will be held in San Francisco on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Congressional Democrats are quick to dismiss President Donald Trump\u2018s allegations of widespread voter fraud, but they\u2019re also taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1400,7,1752,536,204,48,52,51,47,50,49,2582,100,13,136,6392],"class_list":{"0":"post-257853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-2026-elections","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-congress","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-election","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-headlines","15":"tag-la-news","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","18":"tag-los-angeles-news","19":"tag-national-politics","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-voters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}