Election Integrity Project November Newsletter

California’s legislature has included significant deadline extensions in recent legislation. As usual, such actions are justified as an effort to ensure more “access”, avoid disenfranchisement, and enhance “inclusivity”.

All of these are wonderful goals. Every eligible citizen deserves an unimpeded path to registration and voting.

Let us examine three different examples. This article will simply give you the facts. We ask you to take some time to reflect on these three examples and consider the negative implications of such legislation.

In subsequent articles, we will expound on each of these and the potential damage we see to election integrity in general as a result.

Historically, if a voter failed to sign the return envelope on a mail-in ballot, or if elections officials determined that the signature provided did not compare adequately with the signature(s) in the voter’s file, the envelope remained unopened and the ballot was not counted.

As of the passage of AB 477 in 2015, when a voter fails to sign the return envelope before mailing or submitting the vote by mail ballot, elections officials must contact the voter, who then has an opportunity to “cure” the mistake by signing a form requesting the mistake be corrected.

As of the passage of SB 759 in 2018, when signature verifiers reject a provided signature as potentially not authentic, the same curing process is followed.

Further legislation (SB 523 – 2019) extended the curing period to 2 days before certification, 28 days AFTER Election Day.

Originally, California mandated that vote by mail ballots be in the hands of elections officials by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, a deadline that coincided with the close of the polls.

Starting in 2014, California extended a 3-day grace period (SB 29) under the justification that people are used to equating “due date” with “postmarked by” when paying bills and doing other business, and should be afforded the same assumption with respect to mail-in ballots.

In 2020, suggesting that somehow the COVID virus would slow the mail, California implemented a one-year 17-day grace period (AB 860). Ballots arriving 17 (seventeen) days after Election Day were accepted and processed!

By 2021, the legislature, completing the Overton Window move, shrank that grace period to a permanent 7 days (AB 37). This decision was not accompanied by any justification as to why granting that much extra time could be legitimate.

It is true that the wording of the laws cited above requires the ballots to be postmarked by Election Day. But the law goes on to say that if the postmark is illegible or missing, then acceptance must be determined by the date written next to the signature by the voter.

The deadline for registering to vote before any election has traditionally been 15 days before Election Day.

In 2019, Conditional Voter Registration (CVR), otherwise known as Same Day Registration, was authorized (SB 72).  Conditional registrants were to submit their ballot in a Conditional envelope that would remain unopened until the registrant’s eligibility could be verified.

Also, in 2019 (AB 693), Conditional registrants were authorized to submit a non-provisional ballot (no envelope) if it could be determined they were not currently on the statewide voter database, VoteCal.

The CVR process was extended to allow “same day” change of name, address or party affiliation in an urgency bill (SB 207—2020), passed half-way through the poll worker training period for the 2020 Presidential Primary. The details of implementation were left up to county election officials, who were caught off guard in the middle of their busiest time. They were on their own to figure out how to make this happen, and how to get the information to poll workers who had already completed their training.

Note: EIPCa monitors the efforts to ensure fair, honest, and transparent elections around the Republic. It is apparent that various efforts are in alignment with State laws and the US Constitution, and others are in alignment primarily with partisan objectives. Featuring a particular news story does not indicate support of, nor opposition to partisan-originated or politically-motivated articles.

Jennings: Biden’s Justice Department Likely To Defy A Federal Court’s Ballot Box Monitoring Ruling – From Bannon’s War Room (11/1/22)

 7.8M Have Already Voted in the 2022 Midterms; Judge Declares Absentee Ballot Law ‘Unconstitutional’ –  From Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov (10/24/22)

GA Supreme Court Issues Game-Changing Ruling on Election Fraud Lawsuits – From The Absolute Truth with Emerald Robinson(10/31/22)

Mike Lindell: In Person Voting Is The Most Basic Civic Duty You Can Fulfill On November 8th – From Bannon’s War Room (10/25/22)

It’s Time to Audit: Every State, Every Election | The Heritage Foundation – From The Heritage Foundation (10/20/22)

True the Vote Founders Jailed for Contempt of Court  – From NTD News (11/2/22)

7 Elections Reversed After Ballot Harvesting Scandals – From The Daily Signal (11/2/22)

As Midterms Approach, Democrats Scream in Protest of Accountability – American Greatness (10/30/22)

Konnech CEO Eugene Yu worked for the Chinese Communist Party – From Kanekoa News (10/24/22)

Who Denies Election Results? – From American Greatness w/ Victor Davis Hanson (10/19/22)

Election Software CEO Surrenders to LA Authorities; Prosecutors Allege ‘Massive Data Breach’ – From The Epoch Times (10/18/22)

 Election News from the States –

ICYMI > 2022 Midterm Action List – SEVEN STEPS You Can Take to SAVE OUR ELECTIONS From Fraud – From The Gateway Pundit (10/3/22)

ICYMI > New Election Integrity App VotifyNow Allows Users To Share Election Integrity Concerns And Irregularities Nationwide – From The Gateway Pundit (10/18/22)

National Resource: Election Integrity Scorecard – From The Heritage Foundation

National Resource: Voter Fraud Map: Election Fraud Database – From Heritage

National Resource:  My Voter Hub – From My Faith Votes

Federal judge curtails Arizona drop box monitoring, limiting armed watchers, ending videos of voters – From John Solomon’s Just the News (11/2/22)

37,000 GA Custom Affidavits Challenge Fraud in The 2020 Election – From The Absolute Truth with Emerald Robinson (10/25/22)

‘Georgia election official has blunt question for Stacey Abrams, Biden over record early voter turnout – From The Blaze (10/24/22)

Appeals Court Upholds New York Absentee Ballot Law, Reversing Earlier Ruling – From NTD News (11/2/22)

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Orders Election Officials to Set Aside Undated Mail-In Ballots – From Breitbart (11/1/22)

U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell Appoints District Election Officer to Oversee Election Day Complaints | USAO-SD | Department of Justice – From Department of Justice (11/1/22)

Vish Burra: The Brazilian Spring Is Here – From Bannon’s War Room (11/2/22)

BURRA: Brazilian Patriot Protests Rage in the Face of ‘Corrupt’ Elections and Media Smears – From National Pulse [w/ video] (11/2/22)

With 70% of vote counted, Netanyahu bloc on course for win, Ra’am crosses threshhold – Times of Israel (11/2/22)

Lapid’s camp loses Israeli general elections – Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East – From Al-Monitor (11/2/22)

Anze Logar and Natasa Pirc Musar qualify for the second round of Slovenia’s presidential election on 13 November (10/25/22)

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Linda Paine, President and Co-founder, Election Integrity Project®California