California leaders on Supreme Court upholding access to democracy for millions of Americans

“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision is a win for voters, for the rule of law, and for the future of our democracy,” said Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. “By rejecting efforts to shorten the vote-by-mail return window, the Court protected an important safeguard that helps ensure service members, overseas voters, Californians with disabilities, and rural communities are not silenced by mail delays beyond their control. This ruling makes one thing clear: our elections belong to the people, not to partisan agendas. As Secretary of State, I will keep working to ensure every eligible Californian has the opportunity to be heard, because our democracy is strongest when every voice counts.”

“Today’s decision recognizes a basic reality: Mail delays happen. When people vote by Election Day, their ballots should not be discarded because of those delays,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Since our nation’s founding, states have been primarily responsible for regulating elections, and we are pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has respected that authority.”

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold state election laws on mail-in ballots law is a win for California and democracy everywhere,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limón. “California has built an election system designed to expand access while maintaining the highest standards of security and integrity. We remain committed to safeguarding the right of every eligible voter to participate in our democracy and ensuring that every valid ballot is counted.” 

“In California, we stand for empowering voters, safeguarding election integrity and making sure every eligible person can be part of the democratic process,” said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. “This Supreme Court ruling affirms what California has long known: When a voter casts their ballot on time, it deserves to be counted. We will continue to fight for free and fair elections.”

“Voting by mail is a normal and important part of our democracy, and the Court is right to reject this attempt to undermine it,” said State Senator Scott Wiener, Chair of the Senate Elections Committee. “People vote in a wide variety of complex circumstances, and our democracy is strongest when we include their voices instead of rejecting them.”

“The Supreme Court made the right decision confirming that federal election-day statutes do not prevent states from counting vote-by-mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received days after,” said Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, chair of Assembly Elections Committee. “Eligible voters who did everything the law required should not have their voices silenced because of mail processing changes or mail delays beyond their control. After more than 27 years administering elections, I know our responsibility is to count every eligible ballot – not create new barriers for voters. Today, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of voter enfranchisement.”

Earlier this year, Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limon and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced a commitment to safeguard elections from federal overreach and the recently announced budget agreement includes several key investments in the state’s election system to safeguard and speed up vote counting.
 

During his time in office, Governor Gavin Newsom has prioritized safeguarding democracy and increasing people’s ability to participate in their right to vote. 

Last month, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 73 which, 1) prohibits any person from providing unauthorized access, disruption, modification, or seizure of voter rolls, voter lists, or certified voting technology to law enforcement agents — including federal agents — absent a court order or investigation into specific violations of California election law; 2) restricts peace officers from interfering with election administration or disrupting election workers carrying out their duties, except in urgent public safety emergencies; 3) requires the California Department of Justice to issue guidance to county election officials on how to respond to requests from law enforcement seeking access to areas where ballots are cast, processed, or handled; and 4) increases protections against illegal removal or seizure of voted ballots and establishing criminal penalties for knowingly taking ballots from election officials. The legislation also makes it a crime — punishable by a $1,000 fine, imprisonment for up to three years, or by both — for a person to knowingly take a package containing voted ballots from the custody of elections officials.

Last year, Governor Newsom signed:

• SB 3 (Cervantes) — requires  that public vote counts are updated more regularly and made changes to the signature curing process for vote by mail ballots.

• SB 42 (Umberg) — puts on the November 2026 ballot a measure to repeal the ban on public financing of elections in California, extending to all cities and counties the ability to create programs for publicly financed elections, helping level the playing field for candidates and reducing the ability of millionaires and billionaires to essentially buy elections.

• SB 398 (Umberg) — criminalizes offering payments and other valuable items to incentivize voting or voter registration. The bill defines “other valuable consideration” to include a chance to win a lottery or prize-drawing contest. The crime would be punishable by imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both fine and imprisonment. 

• AB 5 (Berman) — requires election officials to finish counting all ballots by the 13th day following Election Day unless certain conditions are met.

• AB 16 (Alanis) — extended the time before the election date that vote by mail ballots can be processed. 

In 2024, Governor Newsom signed: 

• AB 2655 (Berman) — requires large online platforms to remove or label deceptive and digitally altered or created content related to elections during specified periods, and requires them to provide mechanisms to report such content. It also authorizes candidates, elected officials, elections officials, the Attorney General, and a district attorney or city attorney to seek injunctive relief against a large online platform for noncompliance with the act.

• AB 2839 (Pellerin) — expands the timeframe in which a committee or other entity is prohibited from knowingly distributing an advertisement or other election material containing deceptive AI-generated or manipulated content. The bill also expands the scope of existing law to prohibit materially deceptive content of elected officials, candidates, elections officials and others, authorizing them to file a civil action to enjoin the distribution of such material.

• AB 2355 (Carrillo) — requires that electoral advertisements using AI-generated or substantially altered content feature a disclosure that the material has been altered. The bill authorizes the Fair Political Practices Commission to enforce a violation of these disclosure requirements by seeking injunctive relief to compel compliance or pursuing other remedies available to the commission under the Political Reform Act.

And in the years prior, Governor Newsom signed 10 bills into law in 2021 that safeguard elections and increasing access so more Californians can lawfully participate, in 2020 the Governor took several actions (here, here, here) to ensure Californians could participate despite the ongoing global pandemic, and in 2019 Governor Newsom signed more than 17 bills into law to defend democracy — including some of the nation’s first that address deepfakes.