The lawsuits take issue with Newsom’s authority to mandate voting by mail and claim the order violates state law and the U.S. Constitution

Speaker 1: 00:00 Early this month, governor Newsome issued an executive order requiring counties in California to send vote by mail ballots to all registered voters. For this November's election, Newsome said the order was to protect the public from potential Kovac 19 health risks involved in voting at a polling place. The order is now being challenged by three Republican groups as well as the conservative legal group judicial watch with San Diego's 50th district Republican candidate Daryl ISAT. As one of the plaintiffs. The lawsuits take issue with Newsome's authority to mandate the order and claims it violates state law and the us constitution. Joining me is that Couser, he's chair of the political science department at UC San Diego and fad. Welcome back to the show. Thanks so much for having me, Maureen. Now judicial watch is basing its lawsuit on the fact that the constitution says only state legislatures have the authority to determine the quote times, places, and manner unquote of holding elections. So why does the governor claim he had the authority to issue this vote by mail directive? Well, governor Speaker 2: 01:08 specifically cited a California government code that gives the governor broad powers to make executive orders, especially in times a state of a war or a state of emergency. And you're seeing this all across the country where governors had to step in commerce like a governor Cuomo, Gavin Newsome has done this and many other executive orders, especially at a time when the legislature wasn't meeting, they stepped in and used executive branch authority to make many emergency proclamations. I think what's different in California is that the governor is a strong cooperation of a legislature in a lot of these right, uh, that, that the legislature is not fighting him. Um, and in fact, he said in his executive order, he now wants to work with the legislature to and the secretary of state to figure out how to make elections work. But there is this legal question and I'm not a law professor that will be debated about whether this exceeds the governor's emergency powers or whether it fits exactly within them. Speaker 1: 02:03 Well indeed, in answering a question about this lawsuit during his last news conference, Newsome said, well, basically you said the question seems to be moot because the legislature would be behind him if indeed a court rule that the legislature had to make this decision and not him. So from a political point of view, what would filing a lawsuit like this do for a conservative causes or indeed for a candidate like Daryl Leisa? Speaker 2: 02:30 Well, I think there is, uh, first of all, just that there are other grants too too. One of the lawsuits, uh, in addition to this, this question of the balance of power, but I think also a lawsuit like this may be filed in order to, to make a point and, and, and lay out an initial argument. So we're still trying to figure out how hold an election during a pandemic. What governor Newsome's executive branch executive order said was send a ballot to vote by mail for every registered voter in the state, but legislatures, uh, local registrars, we want to work together over the next month or two to come up with a plan to provide in-person voting options for those who need and demand it, which even though most Californians want to vote by another, still lots of people who for many legitimate reasons want to have an in person option. And so there's still a lot of debate about what those impersonal options might look like. And, and this may, these lawsuits, I don't want to speak for those who follow them, but they may be in part trying to influence that process as well as as the legal question. Speaker 1: 03:36 Sticking with mail, voting by mail for just a moment. Does mail in ballot, does male voting favor one party over another? Speaker 2: 03:45 Absolutely not. In California, in our long history of voting by mail, we have a strong record showing that it doesn't advantage one party over another. So there's a new study just published in a prominent journal. It shows is California phased in a, this model of voting through vote by mail ballots and vote centers. We've seen absolutely no change in, in the democratic versus Republican share of who turns out and who people vote for. And in a new study that a group of UC professors and I just released on Friday in a large pole of California, in done in April, we find that Republicans are just as likely as Democrats to say, I want to vote by mail in this selection. Speaker 1: 04:26 So why does it seem that Republicans from president Donald Trump, but to the Republican national committee, to the Republicans in the Senate, they are the ones who are fighting, making Malin voting more broadly acceptable throughout the States. Speaker 2: 04:44 You know, there's a split within the Republican party. Uh, president Trump has been talking a lot about voting by mail, and he has outracing evidence or, or clear points. He's, he's, he's said that it can lead to fraud and, but it's not that one. It ha we haven't seen, we've seen vanishingly small rates of voter fraud done through voting by mail, but one that was done was fewer Republican. Uh, to help a Republican candidate in a North Carolina congressional race. But there are lots of Republican elections officials and governors and state legislatures that are moving towards having more vote by mail option CC, red States as well as blue States expanding this option because people, both parties demand it. And so this has led the president to be at odds. So last week he was tweaked being attacking the Republican secretary of state in Nevada for expanding vote by voting by mail in that state. So it's not a unified red and blue thing and certainly among Republican voters in California, it's something that's strongly supported. Speaker 1: 05:44 Now we spoke to the San Diego County register of voters, Michael VU, just after the governor announced his mailing ballot plan. This is what he said on the issue of fraud Speaker 2: 05:55 in our, in our County, in our, let me just Speaker 3: 05:57 talk about San Diego County. As they mentioned before. 70, we're in the 70th percentile in terms of people that are voting by mail. I haven't seen any systemic issues with a fraudulent activity occurring with a vote by email. Uh, there are a number of safeguards in place associated with voting by mail. Speaker 1: 06:16 And what are some of those safeguards that, Speaker 2: 06:18 well, the most important safeguard is your signature. So whenever you first registered to vote, uh, your signature, when on file went to your County registrar's office, and when you send in a vote about, they will compare that against that signature. Um, in fact, you know, one thing people worry about is, is it too many vote by mail bouts about 1% are thrown out because the signature doesn't match because maybe our signatures change over the year, but that makes it almost impossible to take someone's ballot, sign it, uh, fraudulently and send it back in. There's that signature check is hard work done by registrar's office. It is a strong safe card. Speaker 1: 06:54 Now, Darryl, as I said, as I said, who is, uh, one of the plaintiffs in this lawsuit challenging the mail in ballots, he in particular, he was helped in the March election by the number of mail in ballots that were sent in, in the 50th district. So it seems like a contradiction. San Diego already has a great reliance on mailing ballots. How do you think mailing voting impacts the 50th district race in particular? Speaker 2: 07:20 Well, one of the things that we see, uh, with Malin ballots in this election, right during this pandemic when people's health is, are threatened, especially to help them senior citizens, is, is that for older and older voters, they're more and more enthusiastic about casting a ballot. Denounce you say, what's your first preference? What's the way you want to cast your bounce? Sending it in by the mail? Uh, about 39% of young voters say they want to send it in and then more people want to drop it off, but about 67% of senior citizen voters. So I think they're going to be a lot of voters. And you also see voters, rural areas embracing voting by mail. So I think there will be a lot of voters in the 50th district, perhaps a Daryl ISIS base who will favor folding by mail. And so I think this movement to the governor's executive order, which creates both in-person options but also sends a vote by mail ballot to every voter that will help a lot of voters in the city in the 50th who may actually be casting about for their license. Speaker 1: 08:21 And finally my last question about this in person voting, because you're right, the governor didn't say everybody has to vote by mail. He also directed in-person voting sites to be made safer for people who want to go to the polls. How is in person voting going to change? I think we're Speaker 2: 08:39 going to see is a move from the in-person voting at smaller precincts in your neighbor's garage to the input to the in person voting that we see now that about half of the state practices, which is through what's called the vote centers. So rather than going to your neighbor's garage, uh, you'll be going to maybe a school auditorium or a larger commercial site building or something run by the registrar. Uh, that'll be open for three or 10 days before the election. There'll be more people there, but with more time and, and fewer of these spread out around the County, you're going to have the ability to have better social distancing practices, uh, and, and all of the things that registrars are working on in order to make, uh, uh, accessible, voting, a safe thing and be able to spread people out. So we'll see fewer and further between a bill, uh, opportunities to vote in person, but those opportunities will be a little bit more professional in a little bit larger, a physical space. And that is how elections officials are trying to be the challenge of covenant. Speaker 1: 09:39 I have been speaking with that cows are chair of the political science department at UC San Diego fad. Thanks very much. Thanks so much for having me.