California

California: Newsom signed 13 bills. Seizing a ballot is a felony.

Mail ballots. Two hundred feet at the poll. He signed in Los Angeles. Trump has aimed at the mail.

The Rocket News · States · Los AngelesSeptember 20, 2026 · 4 min read

Gov. Gavin Newsom at a California podium, full color, navy suit, state seal. Wire photograph.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of 13 election bills on Saturday in Los Angeles, at the Democracy Center where federal agents showed up last year. AB 282: it is a felony to seize ballots, election records, or certified voting machines before the count is certified, or to order someone to do it. SB 259: a felony to direct a worker to interfere with a mail ballot. The States desk files California, not Miami, and a governor in the frame.

Another bill bars arrests within 200 feet of a polling place on Election Day, with a short list of exceptions. Counties must open drop boxes 30 days out. Officials have a day to tell the attorney general and the secretary of state if a warrant hits the machines. Trump has made the mail his target. California votes mostly by mail. The package is the state’s answer before November.

These threats are not merely hypothetical.

The States desk files Sunday as it is: thirteen signatures, a felony on the seizure, and a midterm that will be counted in Sacramento before it is counted in Washington.

Wire and further reading: nytimes.com

Filed under States

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