Weber, a Democrat seeking reelection this year against Republican challenger Don Wagner, says the state’s election system is sound and that recent claims of widespread voter fraud aimed at California and other states don’t hold up under scrutiny.

She points to a recent example from Nevada, where the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security initially claimed to have uncovered 278,000 illegal voter registrations. That number was later walked back dramatically, with officials acknowledging that 99.94% of those flagged registrations were legitimate. No solid evidence has since emerged to support claims of fraud among the remaining cases.

Weber says this pattern isn’t new and has repeatedly been used to cast doubt on California’s election system, despite little evidence to back it up. Independent research and investigations, she notes, consistently show that large-scale voter fraud simply doesn’t happen in the United States. California, she says, has strong safeguards in place, but true attempts at fraud remain exceedingly rare.

During her time in office, Weber says the state has run elections marked by high turnout and smooth operations. She credits California’s vote-by-mail system, which she describes as both convenient and secure, along with the state’s ballot-curing process, which allows election officials to follow up with voters if there’s an issue such as a mismatched signature, ensuring legitimate ballots aren’t thrown out.

“Our system works,” Weber said, arguing that accessibility and accountability can coexist.

She also emphasized her willingness to separate politics from the responsibilities of her office. Weber recalled her decision during the 2021 recall election to deny a request from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had appointed her to the position, to alter his party affiliation on the ballot. She said the decision reflected her commitment to fairness over political loyalty, even when it meant pushing back against the very governor who gave her the job.

For Weber, the broader fight over voting rights carries deep personal meaning. Born in the Jim Crow-era South, she says her parents were unable to vote until they left Arkansas and settled in Los Angeles, where they cast their first ballots. Voting, she said, was treated as sacred in her household — so much so that her mother once turned their living room into a neighborhood polling place.

Weber says her family’s journey, from being denied basic voting rights to now overseeing California’s elections, reflects a uniquely American story. She said she doesn’t take that responsibility lightly and remains committed to defending Californians’ access to the ballot box against what she characterizes as politically motivated attacks on the state’s election system.

Original source: CalMatters

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Sameea Kamal | calmatters.org

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 offices say they are working to reassure voters that voting systems are secure.

“I think you have to stay concerned because if you ever get to the point where you’re not concerned and you’re not looking at everything and you’re not listening to everything, then that’s when you end up with a number of problems,” said Weber, who took over as the state’s chief election officer in January 2021.

Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the state has one of the most secure voting processes in the country.

“There’s a big difference between what you might imagine could happen and what actually does happen,” she said. “I’m certainly not hoping that voters will just blindly follow whatever their elections officials say. That’s not how democracy works. But election officials bend over backwards to make the process as transparent and accessible as possible.”

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