By Mary O’KEEFE

On Sunday the office of the Orange County District Attorney released a statement concerning the launching of an investigation into reports of several unauthorized ballot boxes that had been placed throughout Orange County cities. Throughout the weekend the Secretary of State’s Office had received several complaints regarding the boxes throughout the state.

It was discovered that boxes had not been placed only in Orange County but also in Fresno and Los Angeles counties. On Monday, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a cease and desist letter to the California Republican Party to “stop operating unofficial ballot drop boxes.”

“Misleading voters is wrong, regardless of who is doing it,” Padilla said. “Political parties and campaigns can engage in get-out-the-vote efforts, but they cannot violate state law. The unofficial, unauthorized drop boxes in question violate state law and jeopardize the security of voters’ ballots. State and local elections officials have worked tirelessly to provide voters multiple safe, secure options to return their vote-by-mail ballots. These unauthorized drop boxes are a disservice to elections administrators and a disservice to voters who deserve to cast their ballots with clarity and confidence.”

“There is nothing more precious or fundamental in a real democracy than the vote,” said Becerra. “Anyone who tampers with the vote is tampering with free and fair elections. We will do all that’s necessary under law to protect Californians’ right to vote.”

The letter was sent to the California Republican Party and to the Republican parties in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties to “cease and desist the coordination, use and/or false or misleading promotion of unauthorized and non-official vote by mail drop boxes.”

The boxes were placed in numerous areas including a church in LA County that had a Facebook post that identified the boxes as “approved and bought by the GOP.” GOP – Grand Old Party – refers to the Republican Party.

“Our office is aware of the single location in Santa Clarita that had an unofficial drop [box] pictured in front of a place of worship,” said Mike Sanchez, spokesman for LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

During a press conference with reporters on Monday a question was asked why this box collection was illegal since ballot collecting was legalized in the state four years ago after the passage of Assembly Bill 1921.

“Let me be clear: unofficial, unauthorized ballot drop boxes are not permitted by state law,” Padilla said.

He added the boxes placed by the California Republican Party were misleading to voters with many of the boxes labeled as “official.”

On the California Republican Party website, cagop.org, the section titled “Protect the Vote” describes different ways voters can return their ballots including “authorizing someone to return the ballot on the voter’s behalf, which they call ballot harvesting.” The site added the collector must fill out the authorization section found on the outside of the voter’s ballot envelope. Thus voters give permission for their ballots to be submitted. It is not clear if everyone who dropped their ballots into these unofficial boxes actually gave permission via their signature. Each ballot would have to be signed by the voter and the person to whom the ballot was relinquished. The signatures are checked and verified by state election officials.

The issues with the way these unauthorized boxes were placed has many layers of concern for state law enforcement including that some boxes appeared to be “official,” which they are not, misleading voters into thinking these are state sanctioned, which they were not, and also the lack of security surrounding the boxes. Padilla and Becerra pointed out the state has gone through several checks and balances with the official drop boxes including making sure they are secure and the ballots were being collected by authorized people.

Whether California GOP will agree and remove the boxes will be up to the party officials.

“Tampering with the vote is illegal. Anyone who knowingly engages with the tampering or misuse of a vote is subject to prosecution. I hope everyone takes very seriously in California we want to protect the sanctity of your vote; you have a right to vote and a right to know your vote will be counted the right way,” added Becerra.

He said the state would take legal action if the cease and desist letter is ignored.   

“We are getting disturbing reports that Republican Party officials in the part of the state where these fake drop boxes have been situated may not be prepared or willing to remove those boxes,” Becerra said. “We hope that the message goes out loud and clear [that] anyone trying to improperly solicit, obtain and manage a citizen’s vote is sub-ject to prosecution for engaging in activities that are against the law in California.”

“The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk encourages all voters who would like to return their voted ballot in-person to find an official ballot drop box on the County’s website, lavote.net or review the list of official ballot drop boxes that is included in the voter’s Vote by Mail packet,” Sanchez said.

California registered voters are encouraged to subscribe to Where’s My Ballot to ensure that their voted ballot was returned to the County Registrar’s Office, regardless of return method.

“If a voter would like to request a replacement ballot, that option is available on our website, lavote.net or by calling us at (800) 815-2666,” Sanchez added.

CVW reached out to the California Republican Party but did not hear back as of press time.

  Mary Okeefe