Note from the author: It is totally fine if you aren’t up for today’s 10 minute Activist Action! If you read this article and share it anywhere, especially if you share it with your local Indivisble chapter or directly with anyone who may be interested, that is incredibly helpful! Asking your County Democrat Chapter or any other group to endorse the legislation and share it with their members also has a powerful force multiplication impact.
California’s new felony is the latest state election protection law, not the first. The model bill for the other 49 states is at the bottom of this article.
On July 4, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California will introduce legislation making it a felony to seize ballots before they are counted and certified by state or county officials. The announcement responds to documented events. The FBI seized ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco took more than 650,000 ballots from his own county’s elections office before the California Supreme Court paused his investigation.
California already has a first version of this law in effect. Senate Bill 73, signed in May, makes it a felony to remove ballots from the custody of a county registrar, prohibits law enforcement, including federal officials, from accessing voting machines or voter rolls without a court order, and allows the attorney general or secretary of state to stop law enforcement deployments at voting locations. The legislature attached an urgency clause, so the law took effect immediately, six days before the June 2 primary. The new proposal extends felony coverage across the entire period between voting and certification.
California did not invent election protection law. Taking, destroying, or tampering with ballots was already a crime under state election codes across the country, and since 2020, 22 states have passed laws protecting election officials and workers from threats, harassment, and doxxing, many with bipartisan votes. What California added is narrow and new: a felony written in response to an actual seizure of ballots by a law enforcement agency, an event the president of the California Voter Foundation said had not previously happened anywhere in the country. The model bill below treats the California law as what it is, one piece of a larger act that assembles the protections states have been passing one at a time.
Your state can do even more to protect its elections, because ballot seizure is one method among several. Newsom’s own speech described the Department of Justice’s repeated attempts to obtain private voter data, the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles, and the intimidation of poll workers by federal agents. The model bill at the bottom of this article names seven offenses: seizure of ballots, unauthorized access to voting systems and nonpublic voter data, intimidation of election officials and workers, interference with the canvass or certification, refusal by an official to perform a required certification duty, destruction of election records, and coordinated armed deployments at election facilities.
Here is what makes this bill different, in plain English.
It is rapid. Most criminal prosecution happens after the fact: the crime is completed, the investigation takes months, and the charges arrive long after the election they failed to protect. This bill is written to operate while the crime is happening. An attempt carries the same felony penalty as the completed act, so a police officer can arrest on probable cause while the interference is in progress. State and local police are required to protect election workers, facilities, and materials the moment an election official requests it. And a court must hear an emergency injunction request within 24 hours of filing, with no bond required.
It takes the money. A court can restrain assets connected to the offense before trial so they cannot be moved or hidden, and on conviction the state takes the funds and property that financed the operation, along with its proceeds. The offenses also become racketeering predicates, which lets prosecutors treat an organized, funded interference operation as exactly that, with the forfeiture and civil damages that racketeering law provides.
It goes up the chain of command. The person who ordered the seizure, the person who organized it, and the person who financed it commit the same felony as the person who carried it out, whether or not they were present and whether or not the plan succeeded. Following orders is not a defense. Section 10 of the bill states it the way Newsom said it: “It does not matter who gave the order.”
It survives a presidential pardon. The pardon power covers offenses against the United States only. Every offense in this act is a state offense. A conviction stands no matter who ordered the act and no matter what protection was promised afterward.
And it already contains the answer to the Supremacy Clause. In plain English: the Supremacy Clause is the part of the Constitution that makes valid federal law override state law when the two conflict. Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials have claimed it gives federal agents absolute immunity from state prosecution, and a reader who sends this bill to an office may receive that claim in response. The claim overstates the law. Under the test courts have applied since 1890, a federal officer is protected from state prosecution only when federal law actually authorized the act and the officer reasonably believed the act was necessary and proper to federal duties; federal officials have never held blanket immunity.
Sections 10 and 11 of the bill are drafted to that exact test. Section 11 states that the act criminalizes nothing a valid federal statute or federal court order affirmatively authorizes, so the bill cannot conflict with federal law, and no current federal statute authorizes taking ballots, voter data, or voting equipment from state custody before certification. A federal officer charged under this act therefore has to show a court an authorization that does not exist. If the officer moves the case to federal court, the state still prosecutes it there, and a conviction is still a state conviction. And sheriffs, contractors, party staff, planners, and financiers hold no federal office, so they have no Supremacy Clause claim at all.
One timing fact needs acknowledging. California’s legislature remains in session through August, and many state legislatures have already completed their 2026 regular sessions. Adjournment leaves several actions available. A governor cannot create a felony by executive order, because only a legislature can define a crime, but governors in all 50 states have the authority to call a special session and place this bill on its agenda. A governor can also direct state police to enforce the ballot theft and tampering statutes the state already has, request a formal attorney general opinion confirming those statutes apply to anyone who takes ballots without a court order, and, where a genuine threat exists, use emergency powers, since in many states violating a governor’s emergency order is itself a criminal offense. The email below covers both situations.
Here is the request. We are asking Existentialist Republic readers and activists to help send this bill to all 50 governors, and to send it to your own state legislators. Legislators respond to what other states have already enacted, and the record here is real: the election codes states already enforce, the worker protection laws 22 states have passed since 2020, and now California’s ballot seizure felony.
We need 10 subscribers per article to keep this machine producing the activism that puts democracy on the offensive. Don’t let this be the reason you skip a meal or miss rent but if you can subscribe then you’re essentially gifting the publication to millions of readers. Check out the bottom of this article to see the free ER library of activism books, booklets, and legislation.
Now back to our regularly scheduled activism.
This only takes about ten minutes.
Find your governor’s contact page. Search your governor’s name plus the word contact, or use the directory at nga.org/governors.
Find your state legislators at openstates.org/find_your_legislator. Enter your address and the tool lists each legislator who represents you. The number varies by state, from one in Nebraska to three or more in states with multi-member districts. Send the message to each of them.
Send each office the message below, adjusted to fit you. If you are able, copy the full model bill from the bottom of this article and paste it below your signature, in the body of the email, not as an attachment. This is easiest from a computer browser, because the bill is long. Pasting matters: many offices do not click links in email from senders they do not know, spam filters divert messages that contain links, and attachments from unknown senders often go unopened. Pasted text arrives readable with nothing to click and nothing to open. If you are on your phone and pasting the full bill is not practical, send the short message with the link anyway. A short message that gets sent accomplishes more than a complete one that does not.
Copy this:
Subject: Please endorse an election protection bill in [state]
I am a [nurse / teacher / veteran / small business owner] living in [city or county]. California is making it a felony to seize ballots before certification, and its Senate Bill 73 already makes removing ballots from a county registrar’s custody a felony. Twenty-two states have passed laws protecting election workers since 2020. I am asking you to endorse and introduce a bill in our state that covers seizure of ballots, unauthorized access to voting systems, intimidation of election workers, interference with certification, and the people who order or finance any of it. The full text of the model bill is pasted below my signature.
If our legislature has completed its regular session, waiting until next year is not acceptable. I am asking for a special session to pass this bill, and until it passes, for enforcement of our existing ballot theft and tampering laws by state police, a formal attorney general opinion confirming those laws apply to anyone who takes ballots without a court order, and the use of available emergency powers to protect ballot custody.
Please reply with your position.
[Your name] [Your city, so the office knows you are a constituent]
[Paste the model bill here, that’s easiest if you open this article in a computer browser. If you could not paste it, replace this line with: The model bill is published by The Existentialist Republic at (link).]
If you send it, tell us in the comments which state and which office received it. No pressure at all if you prefer privacy; a message sent privately does the same work. Knowing which offices have received it lets other readers tell their own legislators that the same request is arriving in multiple states.
California’s legislature passed Senate Bill 73 and the governor signed it within a single week. A state that wants these protections in place before November has time. The first step is the email you send today.
MODEL STATE LEGISLATION THE ELECTION PROTECTION AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT REVIEW DRAFT FOR LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF [STATE]:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE This act may be cited as the Election Protection and Accountability Act.
SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS The legislature finds that: (a) Ballots, voter data, voting technology, and election records in the custody of election officials are administered under the law of this state, and the Constitution of the United States assigns the administration of elections to the states in the first instance. (b) Interference with elections occurs through multiple documented methods, including seizure of ballots, unauthorized access to voting systems and voter data, intimidation of election officials and workers, interference with canvass and certification, refusal by officials to perform ministerial certification duties, destruction of records, and coordinated armed deployments at election facilities. © Remedies that become available only after certification do not protect the election in which the interference occurs. (d) Federal law at 52 U.S.C. 20701 requires the preservation of federal election records for twenty-two months, and no provision of federal law authorizes the removal of ballots, nonpublic voter data, or voting equipment from state or county custody before certification absent an order of a court of competent jurisdiction. (e) This act is intended to operate in full harmony with federal law and does not prohibit any conduct that a valid federal statute or federal court order affirmatively authorizes.
SECTION 3. DEFINITIONS As used in this act: (a) “Ballot” means any official ballot, whether voted, unvoted, spoiled, provisional, or absentee, and any package, container, or drop box containing ballots. (b) “Election materials” means ballots, tally sheets, canvass records, chain of custody logs, audit records, certified voting technology, including voting machines, tabulators, software, and storage media, the statewide voter registration database, and nonpublic voter data. © “Nonpublic voter data” means voter information not subject to disclosure under [the state public records act] or the National Voter Registration Act, 52 U.S.C. 20507(i), including full dates of birth, identification numbers, and signatures. (d) “Election official” means the secretary of state, a county or municipal clerk, registrar, or election administrator, and their authorized staff. (e) “Election worker” means any person authorized by an election official to perform duties in the administration of an election, whether paid or volunteer. (f) “Certification” means the final certification of election results by the officer or body authorized under the law of this state. (g) “Ministerial duty” means a duty relating to canvass or certification that the law of this state requires an official to perform by a fixed deadline without discretion as to whether to perform it. (h) “Order of a court of competent jurisdiction” means an order or warrant issued by a state or federal court, and includes legal process after a court has ordered compliance. (i) “Armed” means carrying or displaying a firearm or other dangerous weapon. (j) “Coordinated armed presence” means one or more armed persons stationed, patrolling, or assembled at a location under common direction, plan, or agreement, and does not include an individual voter or worker lawfully present and lawfully carrying who is not acting under such direction, plan, or agreement. (k) “Intimidation” means conduct or communication, made knowingly or with reckless disregard of its threatening character, that would place a reasonable person in fear of bodily harm, unlawful arrest or detention, or other unlawful injury. (l) “Material support” means funds, property, personnel, transportation, equipment, or services provided with the intent that they be used, or with knowledge that they are to be used, to commit an offense under this act.
SECTION 4. OFFENSES (a) Unlawful seizure of ballots. A person commits this offense if the person knowingly takes, removes, seizes, or exercises unauthorized custody or control over any ballot or election materials in the custody of an election official before certification, without authorization under the election laws of this state or an order of a court of competent jurisdiction. (b) Unlawful access to election technology and data. A person commits this offense if the person knowingly and without authorization under the election laws of this state or an order of a court of competent jurisdiction accesses, copies, alters, disables, or takes custody of certified voting technology, a tabulation system, the statewide voter registration database, or nonpublic voter data. © Intimidation of election officials and workers. A person commits this offense if the person, by force, threat of force, or intimidation, and with intent to interfere with the performance of official election duties or to compel any official act or omission relating to an election, interferes with an election official or election worker. (d) Interference with canvass or certification. A person commits this offense if the person knowingly, by force, threat, fraud, or unauthorized physical act, prevents or materially delays the counting, canvassing, transmission, or certification of election results. (e) Willful failure to perform certification duties. An election official commits this offense if the official willfully fails or refuses to perform a ministerial duty by the deadline fixed by law, except as directed by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction. (f) Destruction of election records. A person commits this offense if the person knowingly and with intent to impair their availability or integrity destroys, conceals, or alters election materials before certification or before the expiration of the retention period required by state or federal law, without lawful authorization. (g) Unlawful armed deployment. A person commits this offense if the person knowingly directs, organizes, or participates in a coordinated armed presence within [250] feet of a polling place, ballot drop box, elections office, or canvass facility without the written authorization of the responsible election official. This subsection does not apply to a peace officer performing lawful duties or responding to an urgent public safety emergency, or to security personnel retained by the responsible election official. (h) Grading. Each offense under this section is a felony punishable by imprisonment for up to [three] years, a fine of up to [$10,000], or both, [conform to state felony classification].
SECTION 5. ATTEMPT An attempt to commit any offense under Section 4 is punishable to the same extent as the completed offense. A peace officer may arrest a person on probable cause that the person is committing or attempting an offense under Section 4.
SECTION 6. CONSPIRACY, SOLICITATION, AND FINANCING (a) A person who agrees with one or more persons to commit an offense under Section 4, where any party to the agreement performs an overt act in furtherance of it, or who solicits, orders, or directs such an offense, or who provides material support for such an offense, is guilty of that offense and subject to the same penalties. (b) Liability under this section applies whether or not the person was physically present and whether or not the object offense was completed.
SECTION 7. PROTECTION AND RAPID ENFORCEMENT (a) State and local law enforcement agencies shall protect election officials, election workers, election facilities, and election materials upon the request of an election official. (b) The attorney general, the secretary of state, or any election official may petition for a temporary restraining order or injunction against actual or threatened violations of this act. The court shall hold a hearing as soon as practicable and no later than 24 hours after filing. No bond shall be required. © Upon a showing of probable cause, a court may issue an order restraining the transfer, concealment, or disposal of assets traceable to an offense under this act pending trial. An order under this subsection shall not restrain assets the defendant demonstrates are untainted and needed to retain counsel or to meet ordinary living expenses.
SECTION 8. FORFEITURE (a) Upon conviction for an offense under this act, including conviction under Section 6, the court shall order forfeiture of property or funds used to commit, facilitate, or finance the offense, and the proceeds of the offense. (b) Property of a person who neither knew of nor consented to the unlawful use is not subject to forfeiture. © The court shall ensure that any forfeiture is not grossly disproportional to the gravity of the offense. (d) Forfeited assets shall be deposited in [the state election security fund].
SECTION 9. RACKETEERING PREDICATE Offenses under Section 4 are added to the list of predicate offenses under [cite the state racketeering or criminal profiteering statute]. [Where the state has no such statute, omit this section; Sections 7, 8, and 13 supply the corresponding remedies.]
SECTION 10. ORDERS AND CLAIMED AUTHORITY (a) It is not a defense to prosecution under this act that the defendant acted at the direction, request, or order of any other person, official, or agency. (b) A defendant asserting that federal law authorized the conduct charged must show that the conduct was authorized by federal law and that the defendant reasonably believed the conduct was necessary and proper to the performance of federal duties. This subsection shall be construed consistently with the Constitution of the United States and does not enlarge or diminish any immunity it provides.
SECTION 11. CONSTRUCTION AND SAVINGS (a) Nothing in this act criminalizes conduct affirmatively authorized by a valid federal statute or by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction. (b) Nothing in this act prohibits constitutionally protected speech, assembly, or petitioning, or observation, challenges, recounts, contests, audits, or litigation authorized by law. © Nothing in this act limits access to records available under [the state public records act] or disclosure required by the National Voter Registration Act, 52 U.S.C. 20507(i).
SECTION 12. JURISDICTION AND VENUE (a) The attorney general and the prosecuting attorney of any affected county have concurrent authority to prosecute offenses under this act. (b) An offense under this act may be prosecuted in any county where any element of the offense occurred or where the affected certification occurs.
SECTION 13. CIVIL ENFORCEMENT The attorney general, the secretary of state, or an affected election official may bring an action for injunctive relief and civil penalties of up to [$50,000] per violation. An election official or election worker injured by a violation may bring an action for damages, and a prevailing plaintiff shall recover reasonable attorney fees.
SECTION 14. LIMITATION PERIOD Prosecution for an offense under this act may be commenced within [six] years of the offense.
SECTION 15. SEVERABILITY If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act and its other applications are not affected.
SECTION 16. EFFECTIVE DATE This act takes effect immediately upon enactment where the constitution of this state permits urgency or emergency legislation, and otherwise on the earliest date permitted by law.
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Took me a few days, but I sent to my state delegate, state senator (both of them friendlies) and Governor Spanberger. Action on this will require a special session. Fortunately, I see my state delegate tomorrow night, and will have all this printed out to put in the hands of whichever aide accompanies her.
Now, to make up a list of my friends. The local Dem committee is having an all-hands meeting in 2 weeks, where I should be able to reach a larger, and I hope active, group.
I know many people are feeling despair because they don't have sufficient information about the many legal battles which have been won. We also know that Trump will try anything and everything-- he has to. This is a situation where there cannot be Too Many Preparations. Moats (with sharks), trenches, barbed wire, drones, M2s, and yummy cyclospora-sandwiches offered to them. Am I missing anything?
THANK YOU so much Chris and all for the model legislation
Great proposal for legislation. I have attached a link that I gave to my local candidate for the US House of Representatives saying that he should demonstrate initiative and action by championingg this in outr state. I will addd your proposed legislation as a beginning point. I will of course give you full credit for what you have produced. Well done.
/Users/stevenerick/Desktop/Substack Series/Preparing for the Mid Terms.docx