Alex Padilla

Good morning, California. It’s Friday, November 6. Industry vs. Legislature The fate of four ballot measures — including what would be the largest change to California’s property tax structure in more than 40 years — hangs in the balance of 4.5 million uncounted votes, according to an estimate released Thursday evening by Secretary of State […]

California still must count 4.5 million ballots, a bigger job than what it faced two days after the election in 2016.

 Lea este artículo en español. It’s the weekend before Election Day.  Elections officials across California are already processing the 9 million-plus ballots returned thus far.  But don’t expect the full picture to emerge until well after November 3.  Counting all vote-by-mail, provisional and same-day voter registration ballots, in addition to those in-person ballots cast in the […]

Read this article in English.     Es el fin de semana anterior al día de las elecciones.  Los funcionarios electorales de California ya están procesando los más de 9 millones de boletas devueltas hasta ahora.  Pero no espere que surja la imagen completa hasta mucho después del 3 de noviembre.  El recuento de todas las boletas de […]

In a press conference seemingly designed to deescalate a week-long legal standoff, declare victory and profoundly confuse the California press corps, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Secretary of State Alex Padilla said they would not be taking legal action against the California Republican Party for its makeshift ballot box program.  But the two Democrats insisted […]

The political stakes of the ongoing face-off between the California Republican Party and some of the state’s top Democratic elected officials over “ballot harvesting” practices just got a lot higher. The California GOP said it would not stop collecting voter ballots in unofficial drop boxes in a Wednesday letter to Secretary of State Alex Padilla […]

The closer the November election gets, the tenser California’s political climate becomes. Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Attorney General Xavier Becerra — both Democrats — sent a cease-and-desist letter Monday to the California Republican Party, demanding it remove unofficial ballot drop boxes set up outside of churches and gun shops in several counties. The […]

After the electoral hammering California Republicans took in 2018, the party decided to put aside any misgivings it had about “ballot harvesting” and set up its own operation. In so doing, it’s now earned itself a cease-and-desist letter from California’s Democratic secretary of state. At issue: Unofficial ballot drop boxes that the state GOP purchased […]

California surpassed a staggering milestone Sunday: More than 4 million acres have now burned in a record-defying fire season still far from over. That’s four Rhode Islands, three-and-a-half Grand Canyon National Parks, and a little more than one Connecticut. It’s also more than double the 1.98 million acres burned in 2018, California’s previous modern-day record. […]

When debate moderator Chris Wallace asked President Donald Trump last night whether he would urge his supporters “not to engage in any civil unrest” while ballots are being counted and to “not declare victory until the election has been independently certified,” the president responded with a very different appeal to his base. “I’m urging my […]