Gov. Gavin Newsom said he and the Legislature are drafting a new bill that would make it a felony to seize ballots before state or local election officials have certified them.
“In California, we have a message for anyone considering helping Trump interfere with our election or our count. If you violate California’s laws, if you interfere with our voters, tamper with our ballots, or meddle in our election, you will be prosecuted. It does not matter who gave the order,” Newsom said in remarks given to reporters. “In this state, our vote is sacred.”
… Its not already?
It’s at least partially in response to a right wing sheriff seizing ballots; it wasn’t immediately clear whether it was illegal (he claimed it was part of an investigation, state AG said he didn’t have the authority), and the state Supreme Court had to tell him to knock it the fuck off. This makes what the sheriff did a felony, so any repeat attempts will at least land him a felony charge.
A prime example of “We didn’t need a law for this until some jackass did it”.
Well, it should be treason, but…
It probably didn’t seem necessary to explicitly legislate it before