State GOP defends ‘unofficial’ ballot boxes
Subpeonas issued in investigation as party says boxes were legal
LOS ANGELES — California officials on Friday said that the state Republican Party has agreed to no longer deploy “unstaffed, unsecured, unofficial and unauthorized” private ballot boxes and that subpoenas have been issued in an investigation into how the containers have been used in at least three counties.
“The California Republican Party can conduct valid collection activities, but they have to play by the rules and follow state law,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla told reporters.
But aside from correcting some boxes that were wrongly labeled as “official” locations for dropping off completed ballots, GOP officials continued Friday to insist that their activities have been legal. Party leaders have said they will continue to use the boxes to collect ballots, with staffers overseeing the process and delivering the ballots to county elections offices.
The battle between state officials and the GOP — sparked by revelations over the weekend
that Republicans were stationing unofficial gray metal receptacles in Los Angeles, Orange and Fresno counties — has centered over the legality of using third-party collection boxes.
California law requires the person collecting a voter’s ballot to fill out the information on the absentee envelope before handing it over to elections officials. State law also stipulates that a mail voter may designate another person to return their ballot.
The bins have confused voters, Padilla said, adding that the Republican
Party has “tried to spin their unlawful conduct by playing the victim all week long.”
Should his office receive any indication that state law is being violated, he said, it “will not hesitate to act on it immediately.”
“We are trying to make sure that the law is followed,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said. “We’re not going to mother, or shepherd them through, every day of activity.”
Late Friday morning, the state Republican Party countered that it has made no concession to the attorney general or the secretary of state.
“In two phone calls with nine attorney general
lawyers, they never requested the California Republican Party to do anything except provide information about our program and to turn over records, including names of voters, which we have declined to do,” said California GOP spokesman Hector Barajas.
Republicans assert that they are operating under a 2016 state law that allows an unlimited number of completed ballots to be collected by an individual or political parties and campaigns. State officials argue that the unauthorized
boxes are misleading and illegal.
The private bins have raised questions about the chain of custody of the ballots, as well as concerns over the ability to enforce the integrity of elections. The drop boxes were placed at various locations,
including gun shops, shooting ranges, churches and Republican Party offices. State election officials say there is a distinction between designating a third party to deliver a ballot for a voter and placing a ballot into an unofficial box.