Current Events > Republicans defy orders to stop using unauthorized drop boxes

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/14/california-gop-stands-unofficial-ballot-boxes-wont-remove-them/3660734001/

SACRAMENTO, Calif. With more than 1.5 million votes already cast in California, state Republican Party leaders on Wednesday said they will not comply with an order from the state's chief elections official to remove unofficial ballot drop boxes from counties with competitive U.S. House races.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Attorney General Xavier Becerra, both Democrats, say these unofficial ballot drop boxes are illegal and have ordered Republicans to remove them by Thursday. They worry voters will confuse these Republican boxes with the official ballot drop boxes put in place and monitored by county election officials.

But Tom Hiltachk, the party's general counsel, said these boxes comply with California's "ballot harvesting" law, which lets people collect ballots from voters and return them to county election offices to be counted.

Hiltachk said all of the party's drop boxes are indoors either at county party headquarters, churches or retailers that have agreed to participate. He says the boxes are locked and monitored by people.

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The fact that it is a box does not make it illegal," Hiltachk said. "If we have to use a bag, then we'll use a bag."

Once a voter fills out a ballot, anyone can return it. Most people mail them in prepaid envelopes provided by their county election offices. But others place them in official ballot drop boxes spread throughout the county.
State law defines a "vote by mail ballot drop box" as a "secure receptacle established by a county or city and county elections official." The Secretary of State has rules about the boxes' design, how they should be labeled and how often ballots should be retrieved. But county election officials decide how many boxes to have and where to put them.
Political parties will collect ballots from supporters and return them to county election offices, a practice known as "ballot harvesting." Some states have banned this practice, but it's legal in California.

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Irony posted...

The fact that it is a box does not make it illegal," Hiltachk said. "If we have to use a bag, then we'll use a bag."

Yes, dumbass, that's the issue.

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I wouldn't trust the GOP to take my trash out to the curb, let alone relay my ballot to the state board of elections.

Scumbag republicans

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GOP acting like straight up villains

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failing to come down on this with the full force of the law is giving them exactly what they want. the ability to say "see, it's this easy to fuck with the election"

hit them as hard as you are allowed to, california prosecutors. and immediately.

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The worst part of all of this is when the law was being debated republicans brought up the fact that someone could do something like this, and the concerns were waived away.

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Medussa posted...

failing to come down on this with the full force of the law is giving them exactly what they want. the ability to say "see, it's this easy to fuck with the election"

hit them as hard as you are allowed to, california prosecutors. and immediately.

Problem is, the damage will already be done. It's not like we'll get a redo of the election even if they come down on these guys super hard.

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Does this really matter in California?

DuranOfForcena posted...

yes. the President isn't only the political office that's on the ballot. there are plenty of members of the House of Representatives from California who are Republican, and there are plenty of districts in California that, as the article plainly states, are competitive i.e. could reasonably go to either a Republican or Democratic candidate. and as we have all plainly witnessed over the past weeks and months, Republicans are not above committing several types of attempted vote manipulation and voter fraud in an attempt to stay relevant in an ever increasingly progressive political climate, even while they cry foul at the Democrats for supposedly doing the same thing but worse, when that is demonstrably false.

Well said.

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CyricZ posted...

Well said.

Yeah... I can't really argue with that.

The Republican Party is a criminal organization

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Yeah, that C&D really worked wonders, huh?


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