Excerpt:

California elections officials are proud of the integrity of this state’s elections. Brown ought to help them keep their record of accurate vote counts by vetoing Assembly Bill 840 by Assemblyman Bill Quirk, an East Bay Democrat. The bill zipped through at the end of the legislative session without a no-vote. Legislators must not have been paying attention. 

But Inyo County Clerk Kammi Foote and the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation note that the legislation would dramatically reduce the number of ballots counties must include in their public counts to show the accuracy of software vote counts. 

The bill also would make moot a judge’s ruling against San Diego County over its method of verifying votes. That ruling was issued in January. And yet AB 840 was amended at the end of the session, on Aug. 24, and jammed through with only a cursory hearing, Kim Alexander, who runs the voter foundation, told an editorial board member.

We have no cause to question the accuracy of California’s vote. We certainly do not buy President Donald Trump’s bogus claim that huge numbers of votes were cast illegally in 2016. But if California’s voting integrity law is worth altering, it should be subjected to full hearings, not rushed through at the end of a legislative session. (full story)