Just days before the primary election, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill intended to safeguard California’s elections and protect ballots while discouraging efforts to intimidate voters, particularly by the Trump administration.
State Senate Bill 73, introduced by Senators Tom Umberg and Sabrina Cervantes from Southern California, makes it unlawful for anyone to seize ballots from election offices. With Newsom’s signature, it has become a crime for law enforcement agencies to obtain lists of registered voters or voting machines without a warrant.
To address potential voter intimidation, the new law forbids law enforcement or any armed personnel from monitoring polling places without prior authorization.
Those who violate this law may face up to three years in state prison and a fine of $1,000.
The bill took effect immediately after Newsom signed it on Wednesday afternoon.
The governor avoided naming Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco when discussing the “timeliness” of this bill. Bianco had previously seized over half a million 2025 election ballots earlier this year to investigate allegations of election fraud and was ordered to pause the investigation by the California Supreme Court last month.
“You had a guy who’s desperate for attention and wants me to use his name. Today, I won’t,” Newsom said of Bianco, who is campaigning to replace him in the 2026 gubernatorial election. “That took 650,000 (ballots). That happened.”
The outgoing governor acknowledged that signing SB 73 wouldn’t completely shield California from potential election interference or attempts at voter suppression, but he emphasized the need to be prepared for unexpected actions from the Trump administration.
“Every single thing that Donald Trump is saying implies that he will do more, not less, to intimidate and affect the outcome of this election,” Newsom stated, recalling that federal agents appeared at Dodger Stadium on Election Day last year. “I absolutely expect the worst again because we’ve been on the receiving end of it repeatedly.”
Senator Cervantes of Riverside remarked that, having witnessed ballots seized in her own district by the Riverside County sheriff, the new law will help ensure the integrity of elections.
While Newsom spoke extensively about President Trump’s possible influence on this year’s elections, he refrained from publicly endorsing a successor until after the primary election results are finalized.
“I’m the Jerry Brown of this cycle,” Newsom commented, referencing former Governor Brown’s practice of remaining neutral in gubernatorial races until the top two contenders are identified.
