Newsom signs new law making vote-by-mail ballots permanent for all registered voters

All active registered California voters in the last two years were mailed ballots as a safety measure due to the pandemic. Now that practice will be permanent after Governor Newsom signed AB37 into law.

With ballots mailed to the registered voters, participation in creased. The Bill had been created to increase access to democracy and enfranchise more voters. The Governor also signed legislation increasing transparency and integrity in elections

California is now the eighth state to mail all registered voters a ballot: Nevada, New Jersey, Colorado, Hawaii, Utah, Washington, and Oregon, along with the District of Columbia,.

Seven states – Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington – have already conducted what are commonly referred to as all-mail elections, where the majority of voters mail back their completed ballots.

"As states across our country continue to enact undemocratic voter suppression laws, California is increasing voter access, expanding voting options and bolstering elections integrity and transparency,” said Governor Newsom. “Last year we took unprecedented steps to ensure all voters had the opportunity to cast a ballot during the pandemic and today we are making those measures permanent after record-breaking participation in the 2020 presidential election. I extend my thanks to Assembly Elections Committee Chair Assemblymember Marc Berman for his leadership on this issue.”

In the 2020 presidential election, 87.14 percent of registered voters turned out to vote in El Dorado County. In the previous presidential election, 83.31 percent voted.

The new law will give voters the same options to turn in their ballots: by mail, at a secure drop box, a voting center or at a traditional polling station.

“When voters get a ballot in the mail, they vote,” said Assemblymember Berman, the author of the bill. “We saw this in the 2020 General Election when, in the middle of a global health pandemic, we had the highest voter turnout in California since Harry Truman was president. I want to thank Governor Newsom for signing AB 37, ensuring that every active registered voter in California will receive a ballot in the mail before every future election. As other states actively look for ways to make it harder for people to vote, California is expanding access to an already safe and secure ballot.”

overnor Newsom also signed SB 35 authored by Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) making changes to the distance within which electioneering and specified political activities near a voting site are prohibited; AB 1367 by Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell) increasing penalties for the egregious personal use of campaign funds to up to two times the amount of the unlawful expenditure; and SB 686 by Senator Steve Glazer (D-Contra Costa) requiring a limited liability company (LLC) that is engaged in campaign activity to provide additional information regarding the members and capital contributors to the LLC.