Undercover Video Shows California ‘Trump Store’ Collecting Ballots

[ZiprHead]

The video was shot by a voter at a Republican campaign headquarters and was sent to California officials: “PLEASE INVESTIGATE!!!," they said.

Undercover video taken at a GOP campaign headquarters in California and "Trump Store" selling merchandise featuring the president shows store employees describing an operation to collect ballots in an unofficial ballot box. It also shows them offering to store ballots for voters in a safe, ostensibly because the ballot box had been moved off premises for ballots to be delivered.

The video was taken at a location in Newport Beach, California, by a citizen who sent the video along with a complaint to the Orange County Registrar of Voters. It was obtained by VICE News in a public records request from that office. The California GOP has defended its use of the ballot boxes and continued to use them, saying they’re legal under California’s ballot collection law, despite a cease-and-desist from Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Attorney General Xavier Becerra. The video in question was taken after the cease-and-desist was ordered, according to the person who filed a complaint.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

This is frustrating, and illegal, but isn't it only hurting Trump voters? And why in the fuck would they do this?!

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Good. The culprit is clearly identified, he can be sent to jail.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Good. The culprit is clearly identified, he can be sent to jail.

The AG isn't doing anything about it, other than the cease and desist letter. The GOP has lost its fracking mind.

 

[Trausti]

Oh.

California bill to ban 'ballot harvesting' dies in first committee

A 2017 state law authorized anyone, including campaign workers, to collect filled-out ballots from voters’ homes and deliver them to elections officials. It has become both a commonplace tactic and a partisan flash point. California Republicans decried the practice, then moved to adopt it this year after a devastating 2018 midterm blowout.

State Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) took up a similar quest with CA SB1163 (19R), which would dictate that only relatives or housemates could return ballots during or soon after a disease-spurred state of emergency. It would have specifically barred any “paid or volunteer worker of a campaign or political party” from doing so. Nielsen warned in a hearing that picking up ballots would expose vulnerable people to infection.

The bill stood virtually no chance given that it required a two-thirds vote to take effect before November, and Democrats have more than a supermajority control of both houses.

Opponents of the bill, including California Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s office, said the measure would needlessly diminish voting options during a critical fall election.

 

[Jayjay]

This is frustrating, and illegal, but isn't it only hurting Trump voters? And why in the fuck would they do this?!

To me it seems like the idea is to collect ballots from places that are frequented by republicans, and actually deliver the ballots to be counted, so it wouldn't hurt the voters (except if they fuck up the delivery somehow, but that's probably not the plan). A secondary goal might be to create a scandal so that the law is changed to ban ballot harvesting, making it harder for everyone to vote in the future.

According to the article:

California’s ballot collection law was amended in 2016 to allow any authorized person, including campaign workers and volunteers, to collect completed absentee ballots on behalf of voters and submit them to elections offices. The state GOP sued over the law earlier this year and has described it as “ballot harvesting.”

But the party and its local affiliates have set up ballot boxes at locations including gun ranges and churches in at least four California counties, initially marking some of them as “official” ballot boxes before agreeing to drop that label after complaints from Padilla and Becerra.

So the law says that anyone can collect ballots, and republicans are just taking advantage of that.

 

[Politesse]

This is frustrating, and illegal, but isn't it only hurting Trump voters? And why in the fuck would they do this?!

To me it seems like the idea is to collect ballots from places that are frequented by republicans, and actually deliver the ballots to be counted, so it wouldn't hurt the voters (except if they fuck up the delivery somehow, but that's probably not the plan). A secondary goal might be to create a scandal so that the law is changed to ban ballot harvesting, making it harder for everyone to vote in the future.

According to the article:

California’s ballot collection law was amended in 2016 to allow any authorized person, including campaign workers and volunteers, to collect completed absentee ballots on behalf of voters and submit them to elections offices. The state GOP sued over the law earlier this year and has described it as “ballot harvesting.”

But the party and its local affiliates have set up ballot boxes at locations including gun ranges and churches in at least four California counties, initially marking some of them as “official” ballot boxes before agreeing to drop that label after complaints from Padilla and Becerra.

So the law says that anyone can collect ballots, and republicans are just taking advantage of that.

You can't commit fraud, though. And the person voting must sign for the person delivering their ballot to the polls. As long as they are following the rules it isn't a problem. But they haven't been following the rules. This new scheme is really stretching them, at best, especially if they are intentionally misrepresenting what exactly they are doing. Which, according to the video, they are, as they are still referring to them as "official" ballot boxes, when they are not.

 

[Rhea]

And it is not hard, and there is nothing stopping them, to read the name, match it to a voter list by party and throw some out. That's why it has to be either a secured county one or a person who you hand it over to, not a box.