California GOP Refuses To Remove Unauthorized Ballot Boxes

CALIFORNIA — The California Republican Party announced Wednesday that it would not obey orders from the state attorney general to remove unauthorized ballot boxes planted all over Southern California last week. Party leaders said they have not broken any laws and plan to issue an official response to the California Secretary of State Wednesday.

The CA GOP gathered for a telephone conference Wednesday, defending their ballot box initiative.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent cease and desist letters to the California Republican Party Monday after unauthorized ballot boxes were reported in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties.

"We are going to specifically tell the Secretary of State what our program is because he has mischaracterized what our program is and we're going to tell him that we are going to continue with that program," said Tom Hiltackh, legal council for the CA GOP.

The state has given the CA GOP until Thursday to remove these boxes before legal action is taken, but the party argues that its interpretation of "ballot harvesting" is completely legal, it just differs from the way Democrats have practiced it.

A law passed in 2016 allows ballot harvesting, a ballot collecting method that allows individuals and political party affiliates to sign for and turn in ballots en masse for voters who authorize them.

The California GOP sued Gov. Gavin Newsom over the practice earlier this year when Democratic campaign workers went door-to-door collecting ballots.

"What happens to that ballot once you hand it over to someone on your doorstep? Hiltackh said. "Who knows what they do with it...do they put it in a backpack [or] throw it in the backseat of their car for three days? ...our program is very secure, is locked, is monitored and we take this program quite seriously."

The state and the California GOP tussled over the technicalities of ballot harvesting this week.

The legislation says that ballot boxes may only be distributed by the state and that any unofficial receptacle must be attended by an individual who is given permission and provides a signature to cast a ballot for a voter.

But Hiltackh alleges that the cease and desist order issued by the Secretary of State Alex Padilla, is misguided.

"...Every identification envelope... has a line for that person to identify their relationship to the voter and it has a line for that person to sign the ballot envelope; however, failure to do any of that does not invalidate the ballot, that is a change in law enacted in 2018," Hiltackh said. "So the Secretary of State is simply wrong when he says a ballot dropped into a box must be signed by either the voter or the person who received it."

Many ballot boxes that were planted in the state were reportedly left unattended, with many fraudulently marked "official."

Hiltackh said Wednesday that none of the boxes were left unattended and said there was a picture of one being dropped off in front of a church taken by a pastor, which misled voters.

He also addressed the improperly marked boxes, alleging that some "overly zealous" party officials may have printed their own stickers and adhered them to the ballot boxes unbeknownst to the CA GOP until Saturday.

"I don't know how many boxes it was put on, I think it was pretty isolated," Hiltackh said. "We got wind of that on Saturday and I think within two or three hours, that had been corrected."

These unauthorized and illegal ballot boxes were reported in locations including political party offices, candidate headquarters and places of worship across the state.

"My Democratic friends are suddenly opposed to this practice because they're concerned people of faith might not vote for them," said Congressman Ken Calvert during the Wednesday conference. "And that's wrong, that's voter suppression."

Erecting or fraudulently advertising any unofficial ballot drop box could result in a felony that carries a two to four year sentence, Secretary of State Alex Padilla's office said in a statement Sunday.

All voters who may have deposited a ballot into one of these fake ballot boxes were advised to track their ballot through the state's Where's My Ballot tool available on their website.

"We have no idea what happens to these ballots after they are deposited at one of these unofficial so called drop boxes," Becerra said Monday afternoon at a news conference. "We have no idea who collects it, we have no idea if it’s tampered with, we have no idea if it’s even returned or deposited to the county to be counted."

Counties are instructed to contact voters if a ballot arrives without a signature.

"This incident is also a reminder to voters: You are ultimately in control over your ballot," Padilla said Monday afternoon.

Party officials said Wednesday that they were unsure how many ballots had already been cast by the CA GOP through use of these unofficial boxes.

"It's pretty clear that Democrats only care about ballot harvesting when someone else is doing it," said Jessica Patterson, chairwoman of the CA GOP at the Wednesday meeting. "The Democrats are ones that wrote this legislation...and California Republicans would be happy to do away with ballot harvesting. But I've said from day one that we are going to be competitive..."

President Donald Trump backed the California party's efforts to collect ballots Tuesday in a tweet urging them to "fight hard."

You mean only Democrats are allowed to do this? But haven’t the Dems been doing this for years? See you in court. Fight hard Republicans! https://t.co/vaToeGB2ze
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2020

Jordan Tygh, regional field director for the California GOP tweeted a photo of himself next to the unofficial ballot box that was fraudulently labeled "official." Later, the tweet was deleted.

“Doing my part and voting early,” Tygh wrote in the now-deleted tweet. “DM me for convenient locations to drop your ballot off at!”

A "questionable" ballot box was removed from outside Freedom’s Way Baptist Church over the weekend in Castaic, Fox LA reported.

These unauthorized and illegal ballot boxes were reported in locations including political party offices, candidate headquarters and churches across the state, according to multiple reports.

Pastor Jerry Cook of Freedom’s Way Baptist Church invited churchgoers to drop their ballots off in front of the church in a Facebook post over the weekend. Dozens have since taken to the church's Facebook page to condemn Cook for encouraging voters to use the unofficial box.

Cook did not immediately responded to Patch for comment. According to Fox LA, Cook was confident the box was official.

Over the weekend, reports were made to the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk that churches around the county had unofficial ballot drop boxes on their properties, Mike Sanchez, spokesperson for the LA County Registrar-Recorder told Patch.

These boxes were identified as an "official drop box."

"To be clear, they are not official County Drop Box," Sanchez said in an email to Patch. "The drop boxes identified at these places of worship do not comply with regulations for Ballot Drop Boxes."