Checking the wrong types of boxes

How the California GOP is committing election fraud 

Baylynne Brunetti / Asst. Opinion Editor 

This past week, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Attorney General Xavier Becerra were alerted that the California Republican Party (GOP) had placed ballot drop-off boxes at locations such as gyms, gun stores, and churches that were falsely marked “official.” Padilla filed a cease and desist letter to the GOP; however the GOP has chosen not to comply and is insisting that their actions are legal under a California ballot harvesting law. This ballot harvesting law was put into place to help people who could not make it to the polls. So, if a voter is ill, has work, or for any other reason cannot physically vote, they have the option to entrust another person to sign and drop off their ballot. Under California state law, only county election officials are authorized to set up ballot drop boxes to ensure adequate security. Therefore, this is another way for the Republicans to not only undermine our democracy, but to also cry out “election fraud” when people do not vote Republican. Ultimately, it is illegal.  

Naturally, any time California is concerned, President Trump has points of contention to yell from Twitter like an unstable tyrant. Trump tweeted,  “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!” We cannot forget to mention the tweets from Republicans to the California Governor quite literally saying “screw you.” This is a grim look at the future of civil discourse as we see the parties become even more divided. Moreso, it is beyond baffling that a sitting President is threatening legal action for a states rights issue — that issue being elections, which states dictate for themselves. 

First and foremost, let’s break down the actual legality of the situation at hand. As previously mentioned, in California, if a voter is unable to return their mail ballot themselves, they have the option to designate a family member or another person close to them to deliver it to a ballot drop box, the county elections office, or send it back in the mail. This is perfectly legal because that ballot has to be signed by the person taking custody, and the state can track who had it and what they did with it. With the GOP unofficial boxes, there is no one to hold accountable. These are simply metal boxes, claiming to be official ballot boxes that have no monitoring. There is no record of who retrieved the ballots from the boxes and where they transported them to. For a party who screams “voter fraud” when it comes to mail-in ballots, their tune sure has changed. On the contrary, perhaps the GOP believes this could help their case to prove some sort of election fraud. This could work for them, since no one knows what will happen to the ballots now in their possession. 

These unofficial ballot boxes are illegal and the California GOP should be prosecuted by the state of California for election fraud and election meddling. Any group that seeks to undermine our democracy and potentially be contributing to election fraud should be held accountable. At this point, it is a gross display of what a party will do to achieve victory. The most important thing to remember is that no one knows what the intention of these ballot drop-offs are. The GOP claims that this is a way for Californians to drop off their ballots with someone they “know and trust” —  however, these boxes are not monitored by any specific person and the state does not know in what way they are secured, if at all. With this justification, it is more difficult to believe the GOP’s rationale for these boxes. Although, I cannot say certainly they have completely nefarious intentions, I have my doubts. It is suspicious that under the Trump administration, the Republican Party has started to spout conspiracy theories about mail-in ballot fraud. Need we be reminded that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud on any level? So, now that they are committing voter fraud, it raises doubts on the true intentions of these so-called “ballot drop-offs.” Either way, it is probable that lawsuits will take place being that the GOP has already declined to remove these boxes and have in fact, threatened to put more of them. Predictably with Trump involved, this case could also end up at the Supreme Court. It will be interesting to see how a conservative majority court rules on state’s-rights voting issues, especially when these issues lead to election fraud — a shot to the heart of our representative democracy.

The views expressed in the editorial and op-ed sections are not necessarily those of The USD Vista staff, the University of San Diego, or its student body.