California Election Officials Prepare for Scrutiny and Misinformation Ahead of Midterms

San Francisco, California – As the midterm election season began to heat up in May, United States President Donald Trump focused his attention on a frequent target: California. During an interview with Fox News, the Republican leader characterized the left-leaning state as a chaotic free-for-all lacking voting integrity safeguards. "California is very fraud [sic]. The whole thing is a fraud. The whole deal: Their elections are a fraud. Their mail-in votes are a fraud," Trump stated to Fox News host Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law. "You know, they don't have voting booths. Everything's by mail," he added. These assertions are unfounded. Nevertheless, as November's general election draws near, Trump continues to raise unverified concerns regarding election integrity, particularly in states like California where Democrats are anticipated to secure victories.

State voting officials, however, maintain that they are ready to handle the scrutiny. “At the end of the day, part of our job is to be transparent and instil confidence within the public about our processes,” said Matt Moreles, the registrar of voters in Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose. Although contingency plans exist should Trump attempt to alter state elections, Moreles noted that his office is primarily investing in voter education. “That’s really where we’re focusing our efforts: making sure we're providing clear and consistent messaging that cuts through all of the misinformation or disinformation that’s floating out there,” he stated.

The scrutiny directed at California partly arises from its status as a Democratic stronghold, with roughly 45 percent of registered voters identifying as Democrats compared to approximately 25 percent as Republicans. Another crucial factor this election season is the state's size. As the most populous state in the nation, California features 52 members of the US House of Representatives, surpassing any other state, and several local races are projected to be closely contested. In California's 6th congressional district, a Republican-turned-independent aims to break a decades-long winning streak for Democrats. Further south in the Central Valley, a progressive newcomer is also challenging a moderate Republican in a tight race for the 22nd district. With Republicans maintaining slim majorities in both the House and Senate, the fight for congressional control may hinge on a handful of November elections, which will ultimately shape the final two years of Trump's presidency.

As election day approaches, Trump has amplified his criticism of states like California. During the June primary, he falsely suggested that Republican candidates were losing ground in the vote count due to election interference. “You look at what’s happening — it’s getting tighter and tighter and tighter,” Trump remarked as tallies fluctuated. “And the people who were supposed to win, bad things are happening. It’s a crooked state.” This scrutiny is not unprecedented; last year, ahead of the 2025 election, the Trump administration deployed extra poll watchers to the state while voters considered a controversial ballot initiative. After voters approved the measure allowing Democrats to redraw the congressional map in their favor, Trump labeled the vote a "GIANT SCAM" and promised a "very serious legal and criminal review".

According to Catherine Lhamon, director of the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, deploying federal officials to polling places can influence election outcomes. “There are a lot of people who have a lot of fear of federal officials,” Lhamon explained. “The mere fact of having poll monitors present can discourage voters from standing in the line, showing up to vote, and exercising that precious right.” She noted it can also create a false impression regarding the accuracy of election proceedings, acting as “a significant thumb on the scale to indicate to the community you might be doing something wrong.”

Trump's efforts appear to be resonating, as polls leading up to the midterms indicate a nationwide decline in trust regarding US elections. A survey conducted this year by the University of California, San Diego, revealed that only 60 percent of US adults trusted that the nation's votes would be counted accurately, marking a 17 percentage-point drop from two years prior. Critics accuse Trump of undermining public confidence in voting through unsubstantiated claims of fraud, echoing his assertions that his 2020 presidential defeat stemmed from "rigged" voting and his accusations of "cheating" following California's June primary. These allegations have found strong support among state Republicans; an August poll by the University of California, Berkeley, showed that 84 percent of Republicans viewed voter fraud as a "major concern," compared to only 21 percent of Democrats.

Despite these accusations, James Kus, county clerk and registrar of voters in California's Fresno County, stated that election fraud is “incredibly rare.” “They know — after years of making those claims, of doing those investigations — there’s nothing there,” Kus said. Lhamon supported this assessment, noting, “It's not that we don't investigate... We investigate it a lot, and we don't find it.” Following Trump's claims, the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles initiated an investigation into the California primary, though no charges have been announced.

In California, fears of federal interference may be even greater. The August Berkeley poll indicated that 61 percent of California voters feared federal meddling in state elections, a figure rising to 80 percent among the state's Democrats. Experts note that US law designates voting as a state matter under Article 1 of the United States Constitution, making any federalization efforts controversial. Despite legal hurdles and stalled legislative proposals in Congress, Trump has pursued executive actions and legislative proposals to increase voter registration requirements, restrict mail-in voting, and acquire sensitive voter data. Although key facets have been blocked or stalled, Lhamon argues these actions successfully induce unease among voters and election officials, pointing to warning letters sent by the Trump administration to election officials regarding potential criminal prosecution over eligibility laws as a form of intimidation meant to discourage democratic participation.

California's mail-in voting system has also become a primary target. Having surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, California passed a law in 2021 to automatically mail ballots to all registered voters, resulting in more than 80 percent of voters casting mail-in ballots in 2024. Moreles noted that Santa Clara County exceeds that average, with over 90 percent of voters utilizing mail-in ballots and processing more ballots in the last general election than the entire state of Texas, which accepted roughly 342,000 mail-in votes compared to over a million in Santa Clara County. This widespread use indicates public trust in the accessibility and security of the system, according to Moreles.

However, because mail-in ballots can arrive after election day as long as they are postmarked by election day and received within seven days, vote tallies often fluctuate in the days and weeks following the close of polling stations. Trump has cited these prolonged counts as evidence of fraud, and while some Democrats have sought faster processes, Moreles defended the deliberation, stating that taking time to ensure accuracy is reassuring. Nevertheless, on August 24, the Supreme Court ruled six-to-three to allow the Trump administration to implement a March executive order imposing new restrictions on mail-in voting, impacting ballot design and eligibility. State officials questioned the feasibility of these changes ahead of the midterms, and California subsequently announced it was co-leading 24 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to block the executive order, joined by Governor Gavin Newsom, who stated in a release that California will continue defending democracy.

With midterms approaching in under three months, officials like Moreles and Kus emphasize that community-based voter outreach remains the strongest defense against misinformation. Moreles highlighted that county election staff are public servants rooted in the local community rather than representatives of the federal or state government. While Kus expressed concern that the volume of state ballot measures might overwhelm voters rather than Trump's actions, he affirmed that transparency remains their primary strategy for addressing skepticism, noting a simple approach: "Open the books."