CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

97

CHAPTER 195

Statutes of 2026

Introduced by Assembly Member Berman

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bennett, Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alvarez, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lee, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Petrie-Norris, Ramos, Ransom, Rivas, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Stefani, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, and Zbur)

April 7, 2026

Relative to voting by mail.

Fiscal committee: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

This measure would declare the Legislature’s opposition to any federal executive action that restricts, burdens, or interferes with California’s vote by mail system and would call upon the United States Congress to reject any federal legislation that would restrict or eliminate vote by mail options and to protect the constitutional authority of states to administer their own elections.

WHEREAS, Assembly Bill 37 of the 2021–22 Regular Session (Chapter 312, Statutes of 2021) made California a permanent vote by mail state, ensuring that every registered voter in California receives a vote by mail ballot for each election, a historic expansion of access to the franchise that reflected the Legislature’s commitment to making voting convenient, accessible, and safe for all Californians; and

WHEREAS, Voting by mail has proven enormously popular with California voters across party lines, with a significant and growing majority of voters choosing to cast their ballots by mail in recent election cycles, demonstrating that Californians of all political persuasions value and rely upon this method of voting; and

WHEREAS, The security and integrity of voting by mail in California is robust, with multiple layers of safeguards including voters attesting to their identity and residency under penalty of perjury on ballot envelopes, signature verification, ballot tracking technology, secure drop boxes, and strict chain-of-custody procedures that protect every ballot from submission through counting; and

WHEREAS, Independent studies, election administrators, and nonpartisan experts across the country have consistently found that voting by mail is safe, secure, and reliable, and that the rate of fraudulent vote by mail ballots in California elections is negligibly small and statistically insignificant; and

WHEREAS, California’s Secretary of State and county election officials have repeatedly confirmed that voter fraud in California elections is extraordinarily rare, that cases of fraud are vigorously investigated and prosecuted, and that the state’s election infrastructure is among the most secure in the nation; and

WHEREAS, Voting by mail expands access to democracy for seniors and people with disabilities, working parents, rural residents, and others for whom in-person voting presents logistical hardships, and restricting this method of voting would impose a disproportionate burden on the most vulnerable Californians; and

WHEREAS, On March 31, 2026, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order No. 14399, entitled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” which purports to direct the United States Postal Service (USPS) to transmit mail-in and absentee ballots only to individuals on a federally compiled list, to require states to submit voter eligibility lists to the USPS at least 60 days before a federal election, and to impose new ballot envelope design and tracking requirements subject to federal approval; and

WHEREAS, The administration, distribution, and processing of ballots in California elections is the responsibility of county election officials under state law; the USPS does not administer elections, does not compile voter rolls, and has no role in determining which voters are eligible to receive a ballot—functions that the United States Constitution vests in the states, not in a federal postal agency; and

WHEREAS, The USPS is a chronically underfunded and operationally strained agency; and tasking the USPS with policing the distribution of ballots in elections across the country would impose an enormous new administrative burden on an agency that lacks the capacity, infrastructure, and legal authority to fulfill such a mandate; and

WHEREAS, The United States Constitution vests in state legislatures the primary authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of elections, and Executive Order No. 14399 represents an unprecedented and unlawful federal intrusion into state election administration that threatens California’s ability to run its own elections free from partisan interference; and

WHEREAS, California currently has millions of registered voters who consistently vote by mail, and any federal action that restricts, delays, or invalidates vote by mail ballots has the potential to disenfranchise a substantial portion of California’s electorate and undermine the fundamental right to vote; and

WHEREAS, President Donald J. Trump himself has voted by mail in Florida elections, including as recently as March 2026, availing himself of the same secure and convenient process he now seeks to restrict for millions of American voters, revealing Executive Order No. 14399 to be motivated by political advantage rather than any genuine concern about election security; and

WHEREAS, Restricting access to voting by mail disproportionately harms communities of color, low-income voters, voters with disabilities, elderly voters, recently naturalized citizens, military service members and overseas voters, and others who face greater barriers to in-person voting, and any policy that has the effect of reducing voter participation strikes at the heart of representative democracy; and

WHEREAS, A functioning democracy requires broad, equitable access to the ballot, and the State of California reaffirms its commitment to protecting every eligible voter’s right to cast a ballot through the method of their choosing, free from federal intimidation or interference; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature hereby opposes Executive Order No. 14399 and any other federal executive action that restricts, burdens, or interferes with California’s vote by mail system, that seeks to improperly deputize the United States Postal Service as an administrator of state elections, or that seeks to disenfranchise California voters who cast their ballots by mail in accordance with state law; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature affirms the safety, security, and integrity of California’s vote by mail system and reaffirms the right of every eligible California voter to vote by mail; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature calls upon the United States Congress to reject any federal legislation that would restrict or eliminate vote by mail options currently available to voters in California and other states, and to protect the constitutional authority of states to administer their own elections; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.