UPDATE - California Attorney General Demands Republicans Remove Non-Official Ballot Boxes

Faizan Hashmi Published October 13, 2020 | 07:50 AM

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2020) California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Republican Party officials demanding that unauthorized ballot drop off boxes be removed.

"The California Republican Party, Fresno County Republican Party, Los Angeles County Republican Party, and Republican Party of Orange County must cease and desist the coordination, use, or false or misleading promotion of unauthorized and non-official vote by mail drop boxes," Becerra wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Becerra, as well as California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, have demanded that Republicans provide a list of voters whose ballots have been collected using the "unauthorized" boxes.

"Unauthorized ballot drop boxes are illegal. Voters have multiple safe options for returning their ballot: by mail, in-person voting locations, or any official ballot drop box," Padilla said on Twitter on Monday.

According to The Los Angeles Times, a spokesman for the California Republican Party rejected the allegation of wrongdoing, saying that under a 2016 state law, any person designated by the voters can collect a completed ballot and return it either to election officials, or to a polling place, vote center, or vote-by-mail drop box.

But California officials say that using unauthorized drop boxes does not meet the requirements of the 2016 law as no designated individual would be signing for the ballots.

"Anyone who tampers with the vote is tampering with free and fair elections. We will do all that's necessary under law to protect Californians' right to vote," Becerra stressed in a Monday tweet.

Meanwhile, KCRA reported on Monday that there have been problems with some ballots in California because people are disinfecting them, which causes damage.

Courtney Bailey-Kanelos, the registrar of voters in Sacramento County, told KCRA that at least 100 ballots have been received with damage from disinfectants and alcohol sprays.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that widespread mail-in voting could result in significant election fraud and has pointed to recent problems in local elections in New York, New Jersey and other places. The Democrats have said that Trump's claims are unfounded.