Cervantes Introduces Bill to Protect Against Outside Interference in California Elections
(SACRAMENTO) – Today, Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) introduced Senate Bill 73 that would provide California elections with additional protection against outside interference. The bill is a follow-up to Senate Bill 851 (Cervantes), which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law last year. SB 73 has an urgency clause that would allow its provisions to take effect for the June 2 statewide primary election if signed into law by the Governor in time.
“Democracy in California is under attack, not only by the Trump Administration but also by some officials in our state, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. We have a responsibility to protect the voices of California voters, and we will not stand by as outside forces seek to undermine our electoral process,” said Senator Cervantes. “Senate Bill 73 builds on the foundation established by my SB 851 from 2025, strengthening California’s safeguards against election interference in time for the June 2 statewide primary election.”
Senate Bill 73 would protect against the deployment of the military at voting locations by expanding the provisions of Senate Bill 851, which made it a crime to order or arrange for federal, state, or local law enforcement agents to be deployed there without the authorization of the relevant county elections official. SB 73 would also allow the Secretary of State or Attorney General to veto that authorization if necessary.
In March, Sheriff Chad Bianco seized more than 600,000 ballots from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters in a sham investigation driven by conservative extremist groups. Senate Bill 73 would help protect California elections against a repeat of this attack on our state’s democracy by making it a crime to take voted ballots from the custody of the relevant county elections official. The bill would also provide for a civil remedy for this eventuality, allowing the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the relevant elections official with the ability to file for injunctive relief and civil penalties. Existing state law is clear that after the certification of election results, the chain of custody of voted ballots must remain intact. To protect the evidentiary use of those ballots, they should not be taken from the custody of the relevant elections official, even when an investigation is being conducted. For instance, for evidentiary purposes, the ballots seized by Sheriff Bianco are spoiled forever because that chain of custody was broken, even though they have been returned to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters after a court ordered a stop to Bianco’s sham investigation.
Finally, SB 73 also prohibits any individual from allowing law enforcement agents, including federal officers, from serving as observers of vote-by-mail signature verification while on active duty. This will protect elections workers from the prospect of being intimidated by having armed law enforcement officers standing over their shoulders as they work to process vote-by-mail ballots. The bill would also prohibit any individual from allowing law enforcement agents, including federal officers, to search or seize voting machines or voter rosters without a warrant.
“Democracy is a work in progress,” Senator Cervantes said. “We cannot take the survival of democracy for granted, especially when the MAGA movement is doing everything they can to sabotage it. Every generation is called to continue the work of preserving our democracy, and Senate Bill 73 is a necessary step toward doing that in California now, in our time and place in history.”
You can read more about Senate Bill 73 here. The bill is currently awaiting hearings in the Assembly Elections and Public Safety committees.
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