As California voters went to the polls Tuesday to vote on a measure that could block President Trump's national agenda, state officials ridiculed his baseless claims that the vote in the heavily Democratic state was “rigged.”
“The unconstitutional redistricting vote in California is a HUGE FRAUD because the entire process, particularly the voting itself, is rigged,” Trump said on Truth Social just minutes after polls opened across California on Tuesday.
The President has provided no evidence for his claims.
“All mail-in ballots that are 'not allowed' by Republicans in this state are subject to very serious legal and criminal scrutiny,” the GOP president wrote. “STAY TUNED!”
Governor Gavin Newsom fired the president's statements about X as “the ramblings of an old man who knows he's about to lose.”
IN videoNewsom said Trump “did everything he could to suppress the vote.” The governor also used Trump's latest remarks to reassure Californians of the value of Proposition 50, Newsom's plan to redistrict the state ahead of the 2026 elections in favor of the Democratic Party.
“He has people dressed in tactical gear, ICE and Border Patrol—over 100 officers in Los Angeles as I speak—to intimidate and restrict free speech, free speech, to intimidate voters; he doesn’t believe in fair and free elections,” Newsom said of Trump. “What more proof do we need of the importance of Proposition 50?”
IN White House briefing On Tuesday afternoon, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said, without giving examples, that California is receiving ballots on behalf of undocumented immigrants who are legally unable to vote.
Asked what evidence Trump had that voting in California was “rigged,” Leavitt said, “They have a universal mail-in voting system that we know is ripe for fraud.”
“Fake ballots that are being mailed out in the name of other people, in the name of illegal aliens, who should not be voting in American elections,” Leavitt added. “There are countless examples and we are happy to provide them.”
A White House official pressing for details pointed to the New York Post in September. story about a Costa Mesa woman who was charged with a felony in Orange County for registering her dog to vote and casting multiple ballots.
While no other examples from this election were provided, the official said California does not use voter ID. About 36 states have laws requiring or requiring voters to show ID at the polls, according to the survey. National Conference of State Legislaturesbut California is one of 14 states and Washington, D.C., that use other methods to verify voter identification.
Assemblyman Mark Berman, a Democrat who wrote legislation in 2021 making California a state with universal mail-in voting, said voting by mail is safe and bipartisan. In 2017, he noted, Trump created a presidential commission to investigate cases of election fraud in the country.
“Six months later, he dissolved the commission after no election fraud was found,” Berman said. “This time is no different, but the damage is still being done by the ongoing erosion of Americans' faith in our democracy. It's truly un-American.”
- Political tensions are high across the country as California voters passed Proposition 50, a measure designed to offset GOP gerrymandering in red states after Trump pressed Texas to redraw maps to shore up the GOP's narrow House majority.
California's top elections official, Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, called Trump's accusations “another baseless allegation.”
“The bottom line is that the California election was upheld by the courts,” Weber said in a statement. “California voters will not be deceived by someone who continually makes desperate, baseless attempts to dissuade Americans from participating in our democracy.”
Weber noted that more than 7 million Californians have already voted and urged those who have not yet voted to go to the polls.
“California voters will not be prevented from exercising their constitutional right to vote, and should not allow anyone to prevent them from exercising that right,” Weber said.
Of the 7 million Californians who voted, more than 4.6 million did it by mail, According to the Secretary of State's Office. Los Angeles residents alone cast more than 788,000 mail-in ballots.
On Tuesday, Leavitt told D.C. reporters that the White House is working on an executive order to combat what it calls “egregious” voter fraud.
“The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our elections in this country,” Leavitt said, “and ensure that there is no rampant fraud like we saw in California with their universal vote-by-mail system.”
Trump has long criticized mail-in voting. As more Democrats chose to vote by mail in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the president has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims linking mail voting to voter fraud. When Trump ultimately lost that election, he blamed it on expanded mail-in voting.
In March, Trump signed decree requiring Attorney General Pam Bondi to “take all appropriate action” against states that count absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day. Most states count mail-in or absentee ballots if they are postmarked by the election date.
The stakes in California's special elections have risen sharply over the past month as polls suggest Proposition 50 could pass. More than half of likely California voters said they plan to support the measure, which could give Democrats up to five House seats.
Last month, the Justice Department appeared to single out California for special national attention: announced it will send federal observers to polling places in California counties as well as New Jersey, another traditionally Democratic state that holds off-year national elections.
The monitors, he said, will be sent to five California counties: Los Angeles, Kern, Riverside, Fresno and Orange.
Although Trump is often a flamethrower on social media, he has remained largely silent on Proposition 50, with the exception of a few Truth Social posts.
At the end of October the President voiced skepticism about mail-in ballots and early voting in California, directly contradicting efforts by state GOP leaders to get people to vote.
“No mail-in or 'early' voting, yes for voter ID! Look how completely dishonest California endorsement voting is! Millions of ballots 'mailed in',” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “GET UP SMART REPUBLICANS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!!!”
Times writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
