Home>Articles>Placer County Judge Temporary Blocks Gov. Newsom’s Vote-By-Mail Executive Order
James Gallagher
Assemblyman James Gallagher (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)

Placer County Judge Temporary Blocks Gov. Newsom’s Vote-By-Mail Executive Order

Mandatory mail-in ballot Order faces multiple challenges this month across California

By Evan Symon, June 12, 2020 8:29 pm

On Friday, Sutter County Superior Court Judge Perry Parker granted a temporary block on Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order that requires all registered California voters to receive a mail-in ballot for the upcoming November election.

Mandatory mail-in ballots in California temporarily on hold

Assemblymen James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) and Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) had petitioned Judge Parker for the block by citing that Governor Newsom had overstepped the bounds of his emergency powers when he was the sole lawmaker in Sacramento capable of making laws during the two months of the coronavirus pandemic when the state Legislature couldn’t meet. A concurrent charge of going around the state Assembly and Senate was also given.

Kevin Kiley
Assemblyman Kevin Kiley. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)

The Assemblymen gave a joint statement on Friday after the halt was announced.

“This is a victory for separation of powers,” said the Assemblymen in a statement. “The governor has continued to brazenly legislate by fiat, without public input and without the deliberative process provided by the Legislature. Today the judicial branch finally gave him the check that was needed and that the Constitution requires.”

With the hold in place, and AB 860, the Assembly bill that would also allow for ballots to be mailed to all Californian voters, not yet passed and signed, the state will currently not be able to send out ballots for the November election. A lawsuit by the RNC in California against the executive order that notes the potential chaos of having ballots going to inactive voters and others the state currently thinks are valid has also added further fuel to the mandatory vote-by-mail ballot fight.

Sutter County court block draws ire from state, Democrats

The judge’s block and subsequent rollback drew anger from many prominent lawmakers Friday night.

“This is a reckless publicity stunt,” stated California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.

Assemblyman Marc Berman. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)

AB 860 author Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) shot back that not having such a law in place would only bring chaos to the polls, even with bills such as SB 423 guaranteeing that a minimum number of in-person voting centers would be available in each county.

“Today’s lawsuit challenging the legality of Governor Newsom’s Executive Order is exactly why, two days after the election debacle in Wisconsin in early April, I introduced legislation to require that every California voter receive a ballot in the mail for this November’s General Election,” said Assemblyman Berman in a statement. “Chaos reigned in Wisconsin, where Governor Evers’ Executive Order was overturned by the Wisconsin Supreme Court just days before their primary election, creating confusion over what the voting rules were and leading to the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters. While I am confident that Governor Newsom’s Executive Order would prevail in California, the passage of AB 860 will provide certainty for our voters and our elections officials. I am proud that AB 860 received strong bipartisan support in the Senate, and I look forward to debating the bill in the Assembly and sending it on to Governor Newsom for his signature next week.”

The debate over mandatory vote-by-mail ballots is expected to continue into June. AB 860 will be debated in the Senate next week and Judge Parker has scheduled a hearing over the Executive Order for June 26th.

“By the end of the month we should know for sure if Californians will automatically get ballots in the mail,” said voting center organizer Shelly Nichols. “From past elections I know that presidential years are the biggest ones for overall turnout. So that’s going to have more people vote.”

“Voting is sacred. We have to make damn sure that we’re doing the right thing by voters. Every person ever who has instructed us on collecting ballots on election days has stressed that. 2020 shouldn’t be any different.”

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9 thoughts on “Placer County Judge Temporary Blocks Gov. Newsom’s Vote-By-Mail Executive Order

  1. I have always voted by mail and to be told we can’t is asinine! It is important to me and so convenient
    To be in my home and not stand in line for hours to do so

    1. Who said you, as an individual, can’t do that? You can, if you request an absentee ballot. Which I presume you have done in the past and will continue to do. That is not what this is about. This is about the state mandate of mailing absentee ballots to every registered voter in the state, whether they want them or not, which Gov. Newsom decreed by dicey executive order under cover of COVID19. Because there are so many invalid names on the voter rolls, dead people and dogs and people who have moved to another state, duplicates and people registered in more than one precinct, etc., which the Secty of State has been court-ordered to clean up but has refused to do, combined with no oversight for chain of custody for absentee ballots, as well as a number of other reasons, an all-absentee ballot election is more than ripe for massive voter fraud by Democrats.

      1. Yes and we have such a problem with that right ?
        The only way republicans win is by cheating. They’re trying to make us afraid of the scary brown skin people…. they are ….what did trump
        Say about them .. ?

        1. Republicans want WALK IN WITH IDs , NO FRAUD, how is that CHEATING? DEMS want mail with NO PROTECTION of FRAUD…..WAKE UP

  2. As an “Awakened” no-longer-dedicated-CA-democrat, I’m Hugely Glad that this judge has Finally put somewhat of a stop to the overt & subvert criminality being practiced by Nancy’s boy, Gavin! If our voting rolls haven’t been “cleaned up”, so to make California’s voters freely be able to vote in National Elections by election time, all Registrars of Voters, and all high-ranking California State officials will need to be jailed until they Finally, and, Belatedly “clean up” California’s Purposefully Highly-Corrupted voter rolls!!

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