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Sunday, May 10, 2026

Calmatters: What You Need To Know About Voter Fraud In California - SFGATE

CalMatters

You're hearing a lot more about election integrity -- for a lot of reasons.

Since the 2020 election, the issue has been fueled by the "Big Lie" -- the baseless claim still touted by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the election was stolen -- and the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol and its aftermath.

Questioning election integrity has also become a political strategy: In the effort last year to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, Republican candidate Larry Elder said he was concerned about fraud and started a website to collect tips even before the votes were counted.

While experts agree that there is no widespread voter fraud and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber told CalMatters there is no evidence of frequent instances, there have been scattered attempts to cheat. In 2020, for example, the California Republican Party admitted placing more than 50 fake ballot drop boxes in Los Angeles, Fresno and Orange counties. In August 2021, during the recall election, a 34-year-old man stole 300 ballots from a Postal Service vehicle in Torrance as part of a bank fraud and identity theft scheme. The ballots, which were unopened, were canceled and new ones sent to the voters.

For this election, both the state Democratic Party and state Republican Party have their own election integrity and voting resource websites.

There are a number of checks and balances to ensure no one can game the system. The Secretary of State's office and the 58 county election...



Read Full Story: https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Calmatters-What-You-Need-To-Know-...