Newsom signs sweeping election-security package to block ballot seizures and boost transparency

Governor Gavin Newsom signed a comprehensive election-security package on Saturday, citing concerns that the Trump administration would try to meddle in the November 3 vote. The bills, enacted at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, create a felony for seizing ballots, voting machines or election records and limit police activity within 200 feet of polling sites, except for serious crimes. Senate Bill 884 expands early ballot-drop locations by opening them 30 days before an election, while Assembly Bill 282 and Senate Bill 259 criminalize interference with mail ballots in transit.

New reporting requirements (AB 1664) force election officials to alert the attorney general and secretary of state to any law-enforcement investigations. Additional measures strengthen the California Voting Rights Act and require political influencers to disclose campaign payments, a response to undisclosed endorsements in the June primary. The governor framed the moves as a defense against “law-enforcement weaponization” exemplified by Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of over 650,000 Riverside County ballots earlier this year.