Hector Barajas, a spokesman for the party, pointed to a state law that allows a third party to collect voters’ ballots.
Republicans have long decried the law.
“In California, where you can have convicted felons and individuals with a criminal history go door to door and collect ballots from voters, Democrats are now upset because organizations, individuals and groups are offering an opportunity for their friends, family, and patrons to drop off their ballot with someone they know and trust,” Barajas said in the statement.
“The Democrat anger is overblown when state law allows organizations, volunteers or campaign workers to collect completed ballots and drop them off at polling places or election offices.”
But reliance on the law is misleading. The provision says the voter must authorize the person who returns the ballot and that the third party must sign the return envelope. People who collect ballots cannot be compensated based on the number of ballots they return and must bring a ballot to the elections office shortly after receiving it.
Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor, noted that voters had a right to choose how they delivered their ballots, and that the unauthorized boxes were misleading voters.
“Republicans have been saying, ‘You can’t trust the system, there is fraud,’ and then they engage in arguably fraudulent behavior and create the problems they are complaining about,” she said, adding she feared a chilling effect, even if few people were directly impacted.
