California Orders State GOP To Remove Fraudulent Ballot Boxes

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, CA — The California Republican Party planted fraudulent ballot collection boxes across three counties over the weekend. On Monday, the California Attorney General ordered the party to remove all of these illegal boxes by Thursday or potentially face prosecution.

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

The California Republican Party has admitted to planting the unofficial boxes, but is alleging that the action was perfectly legal under a 2016 law that allows voters to designate someone to turn in their ballot for them.

But these boxes were left unattended with no clear signatory to turn in the ballots.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

"We're getting some disturbing reports that perhaps some Republican Party officials in different parts of the state where these fake drop boxes have been situated, may not be prepared or willing to remove those boxes," Becerra said during a Monday news conference. "We hope that the message goes out loud and clear to anyone who is trying to improperly solicit, obtain and manage a citizen's vote, that they are subject to prosecution..."

The California GOP has until Thursday to remove the unauthorized ballot boxes before the state will consider legal action, according to Becerra and Secretary of State Alex Padilla.

“Misleading voters is wrong, regardless of who’s doing it, political parties and campaigns can engage in vote efforts but they cannot violate state law,” Padilla said Monday during a livestream news meeting.

The state GOP defended the action Monday, claiming that the boxes were legal under the 2016 legislation.

"The way Democrats wrote the law, if we wanted to use a Santa bag, we could," Hector Barajas, a spokesman for the California Republican Party, told Patch Monday. " A locked heavy box seems a lot safer.”

The law permits "ballot harvesting," a practice that was previously condemned by Republican leaders.

"If Democrats are so concerned with ballot harvesting, they are the ones who wrote the legislation, voted for it, and Governor Jerry Brown signed it into law. California Republicans would be happy to do away with ballot harvesting," Barajas said in an email to Patch Monday afternoon.

SEE ALSO: Fake Ballot Drop Boxes Alarm OC Voters

The California GOP sued Gov. Gavin Newsom over the practice earlier this year when Democratic campaign workers went door-to-door collecting ballots. The party alleged that the action conflicted with the COVID-19 stay-at-home order in April.

“In California, where you can have convicted felons and individuals with a criminal history go door to door and collect ballots from voters, Democrats are now upset because organizations, individuals and groups are offering an opportunity for their friends, family, and patrons to drop off their ballot with someone they know and trust," Barajas said.

The problem is that these boxes were left unattended.

They were also fraudulently labeled "official," with some bearing state or county seals, which is also illegal, the California Attorney General said Monday.

In past elections, California Democrats have also held "ballot parties," where voters would gather to fill out a mail-in ballots, but they would leave them with a designated volunteer who had to provide a signature for each voter.

Padilla said Monday that the unofficial boxes placed by the GOP are not legal under the 2016 law because the law requires a voter to designate a specific person to return the ballot.

The individual must be "a person to whom a voter entrusts their vote-by-mail ballot to return to the county elections official must include their signature on the return vote-by-mail envelope as a the person authorized to return the ballot," Padilla's office said Sunday.

The entrusted ballot handler is also required to provide their name and state their relationship to the voter.

"The Democrats amended the law to remove all of the restrictions on WHO can harvest ballots and provided NO rules about HOW ballots can be collected except that someone cannot be compensated per-ballot," Barajas told Patch in response to Padilla's statement Monday."The CRP’s program goes above and beyond, is less coercive and more secure than other methods of collecting ballots."

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."

The LA County Registrar has attempted to reach out to these locations and were working with counsel to issue a cease and desist letter.

"Additionally, we have reported this to the Secretary of State’s Office." Sanchez said.

Many of these boxes, spotted around Los Angeles and Orange counties, were falsely marked "official," with some unattended. Padilla's office states that unstaffed drop boxes must also have an opening slot that is "not large enough to allow ballots to be tampered with or removed."

"The Democrat anger is overblown when state law allows organizations, volunteers or campaign workers to collect completed ballots and drop them off at polling places or election offices," Barajas said.

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!”

The National Republican Congressional Committee also jumped into the ring on Twitter Tuesday to defend the fraudulent ballot boxes.

The tweet suggested that Democrats were "...only ok with ballot harvesting when it’s the Democrats ballot harvesting."

Looks like Junior here is only ok with ballot harvesting when it’s the Democrats ballot harvesting. Go back to the beach, bro. #CA48 https://t.co/5QXiyid3PG
— NRCC (@NRCC) October 11, 2020

Official ballot boxes can be located using this search tool from the California Secretary of State's website.

"Voters have multiple safe options for how to return their vote by mail ballots," Padilla said Monday. "From pre-paid postage return envelopes, to ample official ballot drop boxes in every county to in person opportunities both on and before Election Day...Voters deserve to cast their ballots with clarity and with confidence."