State Sen. Umberg counters Trump fraud claim with election protection initiatives
In response to President Donald Trump’s allegations of voter fraud in the California primaries, state Sen. Tom Umberg launched an initiative he calls “Hands Off Our Elections” and spotlighted two Senate bills pending Assembly approval, one a safeguard against any effort by Trump to tun for a third term and one barring ICE from polling places. Umberg and others also addressed claims that Trump’s crackdown on mail-in ballots was reminiscent of Jim Crow-era voter exclusion.
Umberg’s press conference at the Capitol in Sacramento came after the president levied allegations of voter fraud and election mismanagement in California on social media, most recently decrying progressive candidate Nithya Raman’s outpacing Trump-endorsed Republican Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral race. Trump has also alleged that California unsuccessfully rigged its gubernatorial primary against Republican candidate Steve Hilton and raised suspicions about the time California takes to count mail-in ballots and the high proportion of mail-in ballots from Democrats.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has been leading a Department of Justice investigation into California’s election processes and has not produced substantial evidence of any voter fraud.
Umberg, D-Santa Ana, opened the press conference by expressing dismay at Trump’s hints that he will run for a third term and his insinuation that California was engaging in fraudulent election practices.
Umberg said he has put forth Senate Bill 46 to safeguard California against a third Trump term and ensure accessible voting. The bill would ensure a candidate cannot appear on the California ballot if they have already served two terms as president. The Senate passed the bill, which has had a first reading in the Assembly but no further action.
Umberg reminded the crowd that Orange County, which he represents, has only recently swung from leaning Republican to leaning Democrat. He referred to a 1988 state Assembly race in which Republican Curt Pringle won by less than 1,000 votes after people posing as police officers, hired by the local GOP, made voters present proof of citizenship and held placards saying “non-citizens can’t vote.”
“Here we are today, facing the same challenges” said Umberg, who compared the 1988 tactics to Trump’s attack on California voting practices designed to make the process more equitable, such as mail-in ballots.
Senate Bill 884, also proposed by Umberg, draws a zone around polling places and says that ICE officers may not be present at the polls to interfere with voting. It also allows a few extra days to count mail-in ballots, which is meant to address the postal delay that California faces during elections. This bill also passed the Senate and has had a first reading in the Assembly but no further action.
The bill would prevent efforts like Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in ballots to voters who can prove citizenship.
“California stands at the vanguard of American democracy” said Dora Rose, deputy director of the League of Women Voters of California as she critiqued Trump’s voting regulations and praised California’s “open and accessible voting systems”.
When asked if current federal scrutiny of accessible voting practices signaled a return to “Jim Crow society,” Darius Kemp, executive director of California Common Cause, replied “that is always possible”.
He said that “renegade” elected officials like Trump who engage in “stochastic terrorism” undermine the reputability of the law and established voting systems.
Kemp, who is Black, recalled watching his mother vote in Birmingham, Alabama, for the first time shortly after the dissolution of voting restrictions.
“My family has lived that history of voter suppression and intimidation. The president and his acolytes are continuing messaging that my family grew up with in Alabama, that voting should be contested, that it should be constrained, that it should not be a right extended to the ‘other.’ ”
Kemp assured attendees that Trump’s crackdown on voting accessibility would be met with pushback, and Umberg seconded that with assurances that the proposed Senate bills would prevent ICE and law enforcement from interfering with the November election.
