California — On Sept. 19, 2026, Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X that he had signed “new laws protecting your ballot and STOPPING Trump’s attacks on vote-by-mail — making it a felony to seize ballots or interfere with our elections.” He added, “Trump can try all he wants. California WILL protect your right to vote!”
What Newsom says he signed
Newsom framed the measures as protections against interference with voting and vote-by-mail, according to his X post. The source article also cites the Los Angeles Times as reporting that the package would expand early ballot drop-off locations and multilingual voting materials statewide, and that future ballot seizures under one law could carry up to four years in prison. We have not independently reviewed that reporting or the bill texts.
Pushback on X from account using U.S. Attorney title
An X account labeled “F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli” (@USAttyEssayli) responded the same day: “Just so there’s no confusion, nothing a state governor signs can prevent @TheJusticeDept from conducting lawful investigations into voter fraud. We have started indicting election fraud in California. We will continue to investigate, arrest, and prosecute all violations of federal election laws.” The account’s identity and role were not verified in the source material.
What’s still unclear
The source did not include the bill numbers, statutory language, specific elements of the new felony offense(s), or effective dates. The separate statement attributed to Newsom about former President Trump’s intentions was not linked in full.
