Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom dealt a major blow to President Donald Trump on Saturday after signing a package of bills designed to build a “wall” to “safeguard” California’s electoral process ahead of the midterms.
“Donald Trump won’t stop until he can exert dictatorial control over your free vote and disenfranchise millions of people this November,” Newsom said Saturday in a statement. “California will stop him at every opportunity.”
According to Newsom’s office, the governor signed a package of 13 bills Saturday specifically designed to thwart disruptions to California’s upcoming elections amid growing fears that the Trump administration may interfere in the electoral process. The package includes measures to make it a felony to seize ballots and election records and to prohibit deceptive political attack ads made with artificial intelligence.
“We have no bigger task than fighting to protect the right to vote from interference and meddling — the future of democracy is on the line,” Newsom said. “These bills today build upon the wall California has built to safeguard our electoral process.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta championed the package as well, arguing that the bills were necessary to combat the Trump administration’s “all-out assault on our elections and voting rights.”
“Just this week, we secured a major U.S. Supreme Court victory that blocks the Trump Administration from implementing sweeping changes to mail voting for the upcoming November midterm elections,” Bonta said. “But we cannot, and will not, let our guard down.”
The signing follows a monthslong legal battle over Trump’s efforts to reshape voting rules ahead of November. Trump signed an executive order in March directing federal agencies to compile citizenship lists of eligible voters and limiting mail ballot delivery to people on those lists, while imposing new tracking requirements for ballots. Democratic officials in 23 states and Washington, D.C., sued over the order, and federal judges have repeatedly blocked it from taking effect.
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