By admin 
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber urged voters not to wait to return their ballots. She said Tuesday that moving quickly could help the state speed up its notoriously slow vote count.
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Speaking at a virtual press briefing, Weber also addressed the potential voting impacts of an immigration sweep that has targeted parts of California. Some top Democrats, including Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, have suggested the raids are intended to intimidate voters.
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Weber said California’s mail-in voting system gave those voters a way to cast ballots securely without leaving their home. And she said the state was prepared to go to court to prevent election interference, a message echoed by Attorney General Rob Bonta at his own press event Tuesday.
“We have lawyers who prepare to go in court in case there’s any effort to stop voting at a polling place that can go into court and issue an injunction to basically open up those places again,” Weber said.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the integrity of California elections with unfounded accusations of fraud, such as his claim in June that the Los Angeles mayoral election had been “rigged” against his endorsed candidate, Spencer Pratt. Courts have blocked his administration’s attempts to access the state’s unredacted voter files and limit who can receive mail-in ballots.
Trump’s attacks have often centered on the slow speed of California’s ballot tabulations.
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In May, Gov. Gavin Newsom called on election officials to speed up ballot counts, saying “time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking hold.” It took the Associated Press a week to call the second place finisher of the June 2 gubernatorial primary — Republican Steve Hilton — as election officials processed hundreds of thousands of late-arriving ballots.
Weber has defended her office’s focus on accuracy over speed. She and outside election observers note the state’s large population and reliance on mail-in voting pose challenges other states don’t face.
Weber and other election officials also encouraged last-minute voters to drop off their ballots at a drop box or elections office — or vote at their polling place on Election Day, Nov. 3 — rather than mailing them. Ballots need to be postmarked by Election Day to count. But Tricia Webber, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said it can take up to several days for USPS to do so.
Webber said voters should mail their ballots at least seven days before Election Day to make sure it is counted.
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