LOS ANGELES (CNS) – One day after President Donald Trump alleged — without providing any examples or evidence — that Democrats were cheating this week’s California primary election, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced Friday his office has “multiple” probes underway into alleged voting fraud.
Essayli, a Trump appointee, wrote on social media Friday morning that “protecting the integrity of California’s elections is a top priority for my office.”
“California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities,” he wrote. “Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding public confidence. Without commenting on any specific investigation, my office has multiple election fraud investigations underway in coordination with (the FBI). We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.”
Although he declined to provide any specifics, he pointed to a case announced last month charging a Marina del Rey woman with allegedly paying people — including the homeless living on Skid Row — to register to vote.
“Yes, there is evidence of election fraud in California,” he said.
Essayli also said his office is working with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in an effort to audit the state’s voter roll.
“The state has stonewalled every effort to verify that only eligible U.S. citizens are registered to vote,” he said. “This case is now before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. My office will not look the other way. We will investigate and prosecute. Every legal vote deserves to be counted. Every illegal vote cancels one out.”
Dhillon also chimed in Friday morning on X, writing, “Ask yourselves – – why does California (& many other states) hide their voter rolls from the federal government at the same time they gladly hand them over to liberal activist groups?! hmmm.”
The comments came one day after Trump — without evidence — publicly accused Democrats of engaging in election fraud in California, pointing to the legally established mail-in voting process.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom responded on X, writing, “Trump is lying about California again — time to take the phone away from grandpa and put him to sleep.”
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said Thursday that residents should expect continued updates in vote totals from Tuesday’s election as outstanding ballots are counted. She noted that California law allows county election officials up to 30 days to complete the official canvass and process eligible ballots that remain outstanding.
“Accuracy comes before speed,” Weber said in a statement. “California is the nation’s largest voting state, with millions of ballots to process and count. Taking the time to do this work correctly protects voters’ rights and ensures the integrity of our elections.”
Under Assembly Bill 5, which took effect this year, counties are required to count and report most ballots by June 15. Certain ballot types are exempt from that deadline, including provisional ballots, conditional voter registration ballots, signature cure ballots, ballots requiring duplication, ballots forwarded from other counties and some late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots, according to Weber.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton criticized the pace of California’s vote count and is expected Friday to propose what he called an Emergency Election Support Corps to help counties accelerate ballot processing.
“California’s election system has become another monument to government incompetence,” Hilton said in a statement Thursday. “We are the fourth-largest economy in the world, yet somehow we can’t tell people who won an election without making them wait a month. It’s insane. Every election brings the same excuses, the same delays, and the same collapse in public confidence. Californians deserve better.”
Hilton said he would call on Newsom to deploy available state employees and additional resources to counties facing ballot-processing delays while maintaining existing election laws, security procedures and vote-counting standards.
Hilton is scheduled to outline the proposal during a news conference Friday morning at the San Mateo County Registrar of Voters office in San Mateo.
State election officials have repeatedly noted that California law allows vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within the prescribed deadline and that election results routinely change during the canvass period as ballots are processed.
County elections officials must submit their final results to the Secretary of State by July 3. The Secretary of State is scheduled to certify the election results by July 10.
State officials encouraged voters seeking additional information about the vote-counting process to visit the Secretary of State’s website at https://dp.electionresults.sos.ca.gov/frequently-asked-questions.
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