CALIFORNIA’S LATEST ATTACK ON ELECTION INTEGRITY—AB 37

As you may have heard, Governor Newsom has just signed another bundle of bills into law, all of which impact the California electoral process in some way.

The most concerning is AB 37, which mandates the mailing of a vote by mail (VBM) ballot to every voter on the active voter list for every election from now on.

Make no mistake—this bill does NOT require ANYONE to USE that vote by mail ballot. California is NOT an all vote by mail state. Voting in person is still easily available for every California voter.

The mailing of a ballot to every active voter was mandated for the November 2020 election using the illegitimate excuse that it was the only way to ensure everyone’s access to voting in a COVID fear-fueled environment.

That argument, by itself, was ridiculous. Approximately 70% of California’s voters were already on the permanent vote by mail list by their own choice, or were forced there by re-drawing of precinct lines or when their county bought into the Voter’s Choice Act and became a Vote Center county.

If anyone in the other 30% feared to go vote in person, they needed only to pick up the phone and ask for a VBM ballot for that election. Problem solved.

Before passing the mandate, the California Legislature and the Secretary of State (SOS) knew that such an action would result in the mailing of roughly half a million (very conservative estimate) ballots to the last known address of individuals who are deceased or no longer residents of California. 20,000 voters would also receive 2 or more ballots.

They knew it because EIPCa’s data team PROVED it to them with undeniable voter roll data. We gave all the names and the evidence to the SOS.

But they simply did not care. They wouldn’t even LOOK. EIPCa attached the data to the cover letter in an encrypted file for security reasons, and provided a phone number for them to call to receive the password.

NO ONE EVER CALLED.

So EIPCa reached out to the county clerks and registrars, letting them know what we had sent to the SOS. We gave them the numbers relevant to their county (contractual restrictions do not allow us to send the specific data to anyone other than the SOS) and encouraged them to request their specific county information from the data we sent to the SOS.

ONLY ONE EVER REQUESTED THE INFORMATION.

So ballots vulnerable to fraudulent use were sent in great volume throughout the state with no legitimate justification and plenty of fair warning of the potential consequences, along with a way to significantly diminish the problem.

The result, in the legislators’ opinion, generated the most “successful” election “since Harry Truman was president.”

EIPCa DISPUTES THAT ASSESSMENT.

• The legislature defines “successful’ as “high voter turnout”, ignoring accuracy and integrity. But turnout statistics are driven by voter engagement. Some election seasons are boring to voters, and voter turnout is low, regardless of how many VBM ballots are provided.

The election of 2020 was among the most emotionally charged elections in American history. The stakes were existentially monumental. Turnout was going to be legendary without the “help” of the legislature. Claiming it was due to sending out ballots to all voters is preposterous, except for the following point.

• So many ballots being sent out to ineligible voters, coupled with the indefensible practice of ballot harvesting and the weakening of the signature verification process (via basically illegal “emergency” regulations) created such chaos and subjectivity that it is impossible to determine how much of that “increased turnout” was legitimate, and how much may have been opportunistic and fraudulent.

Nevertheless, with that “success” under their belt, the Legislature again used the COVID excuse (by this time wearing thin) and extended the mandate through the end of 2021, impacting the Gubernatorial Recall Election.

And now they have dropped the “public health and safety” pretense all together in passing AB 37. Facilitation of election manipulation is still the dominant force in Sacramento. In AB 37:

• There is no mandate to clean up the voter rolls.

• There is no concern that voter confidence is being eroded with every illegitimate and duplicate ballot that arrives in mailboxes.

• There is not even a consideration that IF California is to continue the insane practice of encouraging or even forcing higher and higher numbers of voters to vote by mail, a far more secure system of verifying the legitimacy of each ballot MUST be implemented—because in reality, signature verification, especially as done in California, is a JOKE.

The REAL reason for passing AB 37 can only be to extend the chaos and subjectivity of California’s elections. AB 37 may make it ever so slightly EASIER TO VOTE, but it also makes it SIGNIFICANTLY EASIER TO CHEAT.

THE TRADE-OFF IS UNACCEPTABLE.

But both sides appear to be OK with that. Could it be that both sides believe they can out-cheat the other?

To add insult to injury, now the legislature, elections officials and media are hailing this bold, new legislation (really a re-tread of the bills passed for the 2020 and 2021 time frame) as a move to UNIVERSAL VOTE BY MAIL. The headline in the Sacramento Bee was: “California is now permanently a vote-by-mail state as Gavin Newsom signs bill.”

THEY ARE PEDDLING MISINFORMATION.

The right to surrender the VBM ballot and VOTE IN PERSON is still guaranteed to California voters (with only a few exceptions). Section (b) of the AB 37 states:

The distribution of vote by mail ballots to all registered voters does not prevent a voter from voting in person at a polling place, vote center, or other authorized location.

Please join EIPCa in reassuring voters that California has NOT (yet) descended into the complete madness of Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Utah and Hawai‘i.

WE STILL HAVE A CHOICE.

And EIPCa, now more than ever, stands behind its 11-year, documentation-supported position that a vote in an envelope is ALWAYS less secure and more manipulatable than an in-person, no-envelope vote.

Until integrity returns to Sacramento, all we can do is continue to stand our ground and exercise and defend our right to vote in person.

We need ALL Californians who understand the importance of voting in person to join together and spread the information to the uninformed or misinformed. We need fewer and fewer people to vote by mail, falsely and blindly believing that nothing can go wrong. Only YOU can make the difference.

For more information regarding AB 37 and other bills signed Monday, please see this Epoch Times article.