Gavin Newsom
Role at the time: Governor of California
Condemned
Response to this claim
Elections Code section 15551(d) requires that voted ballots never be taken from the elections official's custody, so Sheriff Bianco violated it when he removed the Riverside County ballots from the Registrar of Voters, even under a search warrant.
“Governor Gavin Newsom today released the following statement in response to the California Supreme Court ruling Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco illegally seized hundreds of thousands of ballots from last year’s special election … Today’s ruling affirms that in California we will defend democracy — using every branch of government. And the new laws I signed just last week add new protections so attacks like this cannot happen again. People deserve to know their ballot is counted and secure, and in California we will do everything we can to protect that constitutional right — this year, and beyond.”
Read the official statement (opens in a new tab)Governor Newsom on the California Supreme Court ruling Sheriff Bianco illegally seized ballots · Gavin NewsomPress release, statement of Governor Gavin Newsom
Official press release with Governor Newsom's statement on the California Supreme Court's ruling in Cervantes v. Bianco.
Why we used this label
The reference point is the sheriff's seizure and handling of the ballots. The Governor describes the seizure as illegal and as an attack that new laws are meant to prevent, which expressly rejects the conduct.