California GOP says it owns unofficial ballot drop boxes

LOS ANGELES — California’s Republican Party on Monday acknowledged owning unofficial ballot drop boxes that state election officials said are illegal.

After receiving reports about the drop boxes in three counties, California’s secretary of state issued a memo Sunday telling county registrars the boxes were illegal and that ballots must be mailed or brought to official voting locations.

“In short, providing unauthorized, non- official vote- by- mail ballot drop boxes is prohibited by state law,” the memo said.

On Monday, state GOP spokesman Hector Barajas said the party owns the boxes and has no plans to remove them. He would not say how many exist or where they are located. Barajas said the state’s law governing so-called ballot harvesting allows an organization to collect and return groups of ballots and that collection boxes provided by a private organization to help people vote are no different.

“Democrats only seem to object to ballot harvesting when someone else does it,” Barajas said.

The controversy surfaced after state election officials received reports of the boxes in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties, all regions with highly competitive U.S. House races. Democrats have blasted the use of the unofficial boxes and say they fear Republicans could use them to gather and dispose of ballots.

The practice of ballot harvesting involves people helping to turn in ballots for other voters. It is allowed in California under certain rules, and Democrats have been known to offer to deliver ballots for individuals who request it, said Shery Yang Wonnacott, a spokesperson for the state’s Democratic Party. The party is concerned about the GOP using boxes that seem to pose as official collection sites, she said.

In Orange County, Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said official drop boxes are clearly recognizable and carry official county elections logo. He said it wasn’t clear how many voters had used unofficial boxes but after receiving reports about them, he notified the state and district attorney’s office, which is investigating.