Lodi News-Sentinel

Bill would end mailing of ballots to all California voters

- Jeff Horseman

A member of the California Assembly wants Election Day focused on the voting booth instead of the mailbox.

Legislatio­n from Republican Assemblyma­n Bill Essayli would overhaul California’s elections and strike the requiremen­t to mail a ballot to every California registered voter while also trying to speed up the vote count.

AB 13, which would make Election Day a state holiday, also seeks to end the practice of someone turning in multiple completed mail-in ballots, regardless of whether they live with the people who signed those ballots — an exercise known derisively in conservati­ve circles as “ballot harvesting” that’s legal in California but banned in other states.

In a Dec. 5 news release, Essayli called AB 13 “his first official act” since being elected in November to represent the 63rd Assembly District in western Riverside County. He first ran for Assembly in 2018 and blamed ballot harvesting for contributi­ng to his loss to Assemblywo­man Sabrina Cervantes, a Riverside Democrat.

“These reforms will strengthen the integrity of our elections while ensuring the will of the voters is timely and accurately represente­d,” Essayli said in the release. He also lamented the amount of time it was taking to count votes in two legislativ­e races with razor-thin margins.

Shawn Lewis, Essayli’s chief of staff, said AB 13 would allow anyone to request a permanent vote-by-mail ballot.

An AB 13 fact sheet from Essayli’s office states that the public’s trust in government and concerns over election fraud “have been an ever-growing issue across the nation.”

“Recent changes to the state’s laws regarding how votes are collected and counted have only exacerbate­d the problem,” the fact sheet states. “They have also prolonged the torturous process of waiting for final election results, in some cases to over a month.”

Despite occasional voter fraud arrests and false election fraud claims advanced by former President Donald Trump and his supporters, there’s been no proven case of widespread voter fraud in a U.S. election.

An Associated Press investigat­ion found fewer than 475 cases of voter fraud out of 25.5 million votes cast in six battlegrou­nd states in the 2020 presidenti­al election. In November, the AP reported that state-level law enforcemen­t units tasked with investigat­ing voter fraud in the midterm elections found no evidence of systemic problems. To speed up the vote count, AB 13 would shorten the deadline for county registrars to receive mail-in ballots from seven days to three days after Election Day.

It also would do away with vote centers — replacemen­ts for the traditiona­l network of neighborho­od polling places that open before Election Day and can be used by any registered voter to cast a ballot or change their voter registrati­on.

Under AB 13, only family members or someone living in the same household would be able to return a filled-out mail-in ballot that’s not theirs. The bill also would bar counties from conducting all-mail-in elections.

AB 13 runs contrary to efforts by California’s Democratic leadership to make it easier to vote. The practice of mailing every voter a ballot started in 2020 as a measure to control the spread of COVID-19, and the state automatica­lly registers to preregiste­rs eligible voters who seek driver’s licenses unless they opt out.

Academic observers said AB 13 stands little chance of passage in a Legislatur­e with a solid Democratic majority.

“Democrats strongly support mail-in voting,” Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College, said via email. “Indeed, expect them to use this bill as an example of the voter-suppressio­n tactics that Republican­s would use if they ever returned to power in California.”

AB 13 is being presented “as a serious effort to amend election laws rather than a more symbolic bill to protest vote-bymail and ballot harvesting provisions in current state law,” Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administra­tion at the University of La Verne, said via email.

However, “the bill contains enough poison pills that echo Trumpian talking points that it is unlikely to be taken seriously without further amendments,” Godwin said, describing the “poison pills” as the effort to roll back mail-in ballots and abolish vote centers and ballot harvesting.

 ?? GINA FERAZZI/LOS ANGELES TIMES ?? An election worker verifies signatures on mail-in ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters Office in Santa Ana on Sept. 14, 2021.
GINA FERAZZI/LOS ANGELES TIMES An election worker verifies signatures on mail-in ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters Office in Santa Ana on Sept. 14, 2021.

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