California mail ballot prompts false conspiracy theory that election is rigged
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber on Monday pushed back against a barrage of misinformation on social media sites claiming that mail-in ballots for the state’s Nov. 4 special election were deliberately designed to reveal how people voted.
Weber, the state’s top elections official, denied claims by some Republicans and far-right partisans that holes in ballot envelopes allowed election officials to see how Californians voted on Proposition 50, a redistricting ballot measure that will be decided in a special election in just over three weeks.
“The small holes on ballot envelopes are an accessibility feature that allows visually impaired voters to orient themselves to where they need to sign the envelope,” Weber said in a statement released Monday.
Weber said voters can place their ballots in return envelopes in a manner that does not reveal how they voted, or they can vote in person at early voting sites that will open soon or on Nov. 4.
Weber’s decision to “set the record straight” was prompted by conspiracy theories that quickly spread online alleging that mail-in ballots received by 23 million Californians in recent days were deliberately designed to reveal the votes of people who opposed the measure.
“If California voters vote ‘NO’ on Gavin Newscum’s redistricting plan, it will reveal their answer through a hole in the envelope.” TikTok Libraries released in a post that reached 4.8 million views on social media platform X on Sunday. “All Democrats do is cheat.”
GOP Texas Senator Ted Cruz previously retweeted a similar post It has been viewed more than 840,000 times, and Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, a conservative commentator, November special elections will be postponed Because there are allegations of voting irregularities.
The ballot-related claim, made by Republicans during the California election, stems from holes in mail-in ballots that were intended to assist visually impaired voters and allow election officials to ensure ballots were removed from envelopes.
The special election was called by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats to counter President Trump’s call for GOP-led states, particularly Texas, to redraw congressional districts before next year’s midterm elections to boost GOP ranks in the House and bolster its ability to enact its agenda during his final two years in office.
California Democrats responded by proposing a rare mid-decade redrawing of California’s 52 congressional boundaries to increase Democratic representation in Congress. Congressional districts are generally determined once a decade by an independent state commission created by voters in 2010.
Nearly 600,000 Californians had returned mail ballots as of Monday evening, according to a ballot tracker created by Political Data, a voter data firm led by Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell, who drew the proposed congressional boundaries on the November ballot.
Republican leaders opposing the ballot measure in California have expressed concern about ballot conspiracy theories, fearing the allegations could deter Republicans and others from voting against Proposition 50.
“Please don’t panic people about an issue that could easily be fixed by changing the ballots,” said Roxanne Hoge, chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Republican Party. Published on X. “We need all the no votes, and we need them now.”
Jessica Millan Patterson, a former chairwoman of the state GOP who led one of the two main committees opposing Proposition 50, likened not voting early to sitting on the sidelines of a football game until the third quarter.
“I understand why voters would be concerned when they see holes in their envelopes… because your vote is your business. It is the cornerstone of our system; [vote by] Secret ballot,” he said in an interview. “That said, if you’re unhappy with the way things are going in California, the worst thing you can do is not vote, and that’s why I will continue to encourage early voting and vote by mail. “This has always been a fundamental principle for me.”
