Newsom signs bill to protect CA ballots, says Trump 'doesn't believe in free and fair elections'

With just days left to vote in the primary election, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that aims to shield California elections from federal interference.

Newsom, who cannot seek a third term, said the election law is a response to "legitimate anxiety" about Trump's tactics, primarily in Democratic-led states, where the president has deployed federal agents over the objections of local leaders. The Democratic governor warned against underestimating someone who "doesn't believe in free and fair elections."

"I expect the worst with Trump because he's done the worst," he said at a news conference Wednesday.

However, Newsom believes the threats to voting in California aren't just coming from the White House. One of the authors of the bill is State Senator Sabrina Cervantes.

"We've seen an incident in my own home county of riverside where ballots were seized and the chain of custody was broken. That's against the law. SB-73 puts in protections to ensure that ballots will be secure and that voters have confidence in our election system that their voices will be heard at the ballot box," said Cervantes.

SB 73 prohibits any person from providing unauthorized access or seizure of voter rolls. It restricts law enforcement from interfering with election workers carrying out duties. It instructs California's Department of Justice to send guidance to election officials on what to do if law enforcement tries to access ballots. It also increases protections against the illegal removal or seizure of voted ballots.

So far, 10% of registered voters in California have mailed their ballots back. Over 20 million ballots remain.

Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., believes early voting is being driven by the governor's race.

"What is really striking in these numbers is that Republicans are turning in their ballots a lot quicker. This could be one of two things. It could be that they have a simpler ballot with just two republican candidates leading the field, or it could be that they're returning to their higher vote-by-mail patterns that they kind of went away from after 2020. They might be returning to, you know, really wanting to mail in their ballots as opposed to needing to vote in person," Mitchell added.

In the city of Los Angeles, 7% of ballots have been returned with over two million remaining.

"Compared to the 2022 primary election, we're about on target for what we saw in that election, but I think the caveat is we believe a lot of voters are kind of holding onto their ballots, waiting till the end, and so we expect the total turnout should be higher.

The ABC7 Eyewitness News data team analyzed the latest fundraising totals in the governor's race. They are as follows:

By far, the highest is billionaire Steyer, who is self-funding his campaign.

Steyer has already far surpassed Meg Whitman's fundraising total, which is for her entire campaign, not just the primary. Facing Jerry Brown back in 2010, Whitman spent $144 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.