‘Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Saturday that is meant to prevent interference in California’s midterm elections in response to efforts by President Trump and other Republicans to restrict voting participation. …
‘One bill prohibits the seizure of ballots, election records or voting technology before an election is certified. Another makes it a felony for people in positions of authority to direct their workers to interfere with the delivery of a mail ballot or its return to election officials.
‘Mr. Newsom signed a package of 13 bills, including a measure that prohibits arrests within 200 feet of a polling place on Election Day, with exceptions for acts related to disrupting the election or crimes against people or property. …
‘The new state laws add small but meaningful protections to California’s ability to prevent outside involvement in its ballot process, said Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University who worked on voting rights for the Biden administration. …
‘Among the other bills that Mr. Newsom signed are two that took aim at “deepfake” ads generated by A.I. that mimic a politician’s voice or appearance to deceive voters. …
‘Mr. Newsom also signed a bill that could accelerate California’s notoriously slow process for counting votes.
‘It calls for election officials to tell people how to vote early, which reduces the glut of envelopes that arrive on Election Day. It also requires informing voters that they can submit mail ballots at a polling place. Doing so allows election officials to count ballots faster by eliminating the envelopes that are cumbersome to process. …
‘Rick Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he was skeptical that California would be successful in stopping officials from the U.S. Department of Justice if they tried to collect ballots during an election, a scenario that has not occurred in modern times.
‘But, he said, the laws could be enforced against state and local officials.’
