The bill, an urgency measure, becomes effectively immediately \u2014 just in time for California’s Tuesday primaries.<\/p>\n
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) \u2014 California Governor Gavin Newsom repeatedly derided Donald Trump as he signed an election bill on Wednesday, saying stronger guardrails are needed in the wake of a \u201cdelusional\u201d president.<\/p>\n
The legislation \u2014 Senate Bill 73<\/a> \u2014 is intended to strengthen safeguards against election interference. It places new restrictions on law enforcement, prohibiting someone from allowing officers access to take possession of voting equipment, unless allowed by court order under specific circumstances.<\/p>\n It also empowers the state attorney general or secretary of state to object to a local election official\u2019s decision allowing officers to be stationed at a voting site. Those who violate the law could face criminal penalties.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no rules anymore with the Trump administration,\u201d Newsom said moments before signing the bill. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t believe in free and fair elections.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s signature made it effective immediately. California\u2019s primary election is this coming Tuesday.<\/p>\n Authors of the bill pointed to a series of actions that led to the legislation and its passage this week \u2014 including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco\u2019s seizure of some 650,000 ballots.<\/p>\n Bianco obtained search warrants and seized ballots after November\u2019s election on Proposition 50, which redrew the state\u2019s congressional district maps and gave Democrats an edge. A citizen\u2019s group claimed its audit found 46,000 more ballots had been counted than were cast in the Southern California county.<\/p>\n The state Supreme Court last month ordered Bianco<\/a> to stop his investigation. Bianco, a Republican candidate for governor, couldn\u2019t be reached for comment.<\/p>\n Assemblymember Gail Pellerin \u2014 a Santa Cruz Democrat, bill co-author and former elections official \u2014 said she was \u201chorrified\u201d when she learned that Bianco had taken the ballots.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me be clear,\u201d Pellerin said. \u201cElection workers should never feel fear for simply doing their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n State Senator Sabrina Cervantes, a Riverside Democrat who introduced the bill along with Santa Ana Democratic state Senator Tom Umberg, said Bianco\u2019s actions broke the chain of custody with the affected ballots.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is against the law,\u201d Cervantes added.<\/p>\n The sheriff\u2019s investigation in her county wasn\u2019t the only impetus for the bill.<\/p>\n Newsom pointed to the FBI raiding<\/a> Fulton County, Georgia, election offices in January. Agents took over 600 ballot boxes and other items connected to the 2020 election.<\/p>\n