(The Center Square) – Santa Ana is currently voting on a ballot measure on whether or not to allow undocumented immigrants to vote in all municipal elections.
Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill banning manual counting of ballots. This year, he signed a bill banning voter ID requirements. Already 16 and 17 year olds, and noncitizens with enrolled students, are able to vote in some school board elections in California.
Republicans say these bans on voter ID and hand counting, even if approved by voters at the local level, undermines voters’ trust in and destabilizes the democratic process.
“Trust in our elections is pivotal to the stability of our democracy. Like many of his policies, the Governor does not reflect the will of the people,” said Assemblymember Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, who also serves as Vice Chair of the Assembly Elections Committee, to The Center Square. “Local officials need to be supported for adding measures to safeguard elections.”
The 2023 ban on the manual counting of ballots was in response to Shasta County terminating its electronic voting system contract, entering a contract for a new voting system — to satisfy federal and state voting laws regarding their availability for disabled voters — but still opting to manually count all votes by hand.