Transcription
This is Democracy Watch. Mark, we have a bombshell story here that's flown completely under the radar. Can you explain what just happened with the seizure of half a million ballots in California?
Yeah, Brian, this is completely explosive. And if it doesn't cause everyone to wake up and realize we have a five alarm fire blazing with our democracy, and if we don't start grabbing water buckets and putting it out, we're going to be in a world of hurt. I don't know what will.
A California sheriff who happens to be, by the way, one of the leading candidates for governor of the state of California has seized more than half a million ballots from the recent ballot initiative election in California uh in which uh the voters adopted uh a redistricting um uh amendment that uh adopted a new map. Now, everyone's familiar with the back and forth about that map. Texas passed a new map uh uh that gained uh Republicans. They hope five seats. I doubt it will actually perform as five seats for Republicans. Gavin Newsome led an effort to put on the ballot for voters of California uh a measure that would redraw the California map and gain Democrats five seats there. I actually think that will perform as a full five seats. But now in the wake of what we have seen with the raid on Fulton County, the subpoena of Maricopa County, we now have a third incident of Republicans brazenly breaking the seal of democracy, the sanctity of the ballot box by seizing ballots and in this case half a million of them. And Brian, as I said, it is time that everybody wake up to what is coming this fall in 2026. Ballot seizures are on the table for Republicans. They are trying to normalize that. The legacy media is along for that ride if they even pay attention to this. But you and I, Brian, we're going to make sure people stay focused and informed and know what they can do to fight back.
You know, >> I think that's that's the perfect point that you brought up, the fact that this is going to be an issue moving forward. Do you think that the new litmus test for Republicans is going to be a willingness to not only engage in election denialism, but go so far as to actually seize ballots wherever they can get them? Whether they're in Fulton County, whether you have this guy Chad Bianca who's running for governor of California, and so he seizes ballots here in California. Is this the new frontier where if you want to win as a Republican in today's GOP, you have to not only claim that any election where a Republican lost or a Republican position lost um is is invalid, but then go so far as to actually grab the ballots yourself so that you can, you know, jin up some some crazy story about how you have, you know, some smoking gun where none exists.
>> Yeah. And I want everyone to listen to me very carefully. The seizure of ballots is never okay. I mean, we went 250 years nearly without the federal government ever seizing ballots, right?
>> That's why when Donald Trump sent the FBI through Pam Bondi to seize ballots in Fulton County, they had to figure out how to do it. Like, this is not something that the federal government's engaged in. I am not aware of a state sheriff ever seizing ballots, even after we saw the Department of Justice do what they did in Fulton County. and then the subpoena they they issued in Arizona. This is not just an escalation, but this is the Republican party trying to normalize absolutely dangerous behavior. They are trying to say it is no longer just table stakes to dispute the outcome of an election you lost. It is no longer enough to even claim fraud in some generic way. It's not even enough anymore to abuse the courts and file a bunch of frivolous lawsuits that you lose. The new standard, the new standard that you are going to be held to if you are a Republican elected official who wants to be in MAGA in good standing is you have to go further. You have to actually seize the ballots, right?
>> And so I need everyone to pay attention to that. But there's one more thing, Brian, here that you know very well because you were so instrumental to the victory that uh Californians achieved. And you know, people give a lot of credit to a lot of people around that ballot initiative. The governor deserves a lot of it, but so do you. And people who don't know this, Brian was one of the earliest voices, really out in front, really out in front. You know, when people were still like, "Oh, no, we can't do partisan gerrymandering." Brian was a voice out in front saying, "Not only do we have to do it, but California should lead the way." He raised money for it. He drew visibility to it. So, please take a second right now, click on the link uh to subscribe to this channel. Also, hit the bell to make sure you're you're you receive alerts when there's new content. But Brian, you know as well as anyone, this measure wasn't even close. So they're seizing ballots not in a close election, which would still be a violation of norms and rule of law and and democracy. They're seizing ballots in I remember I don't remember what the margin was, but it was double digits.
>> It was 80,000 80,000 just in the county that Chad Biano took the ballots from. 80,000 just in that county alone. Overall, it was roughly 3 million votes different. So it's not like this was separated by just a a few thousand votes here and there. This was a 3 million vote margin between yes and no in Prop 50,
>> right? And so if they are willing to seize the ballots when the margins are that big
>> Yeah.
>> and it is so preposterous that that anyone would claim that there was fraud or irregularities or anything. Just imagine what they're going to do in November when we're talking about congressional districts where even a big margin might just be 10,000 or 12,000 votes, right? You know, because you have fewer people. I mean, California is a huge state, right? But you you could have you could have House members winning comfortably by 5,000 votes or 6,000 votes. I mean, just think about what this is telling Republicans on the rank and file to expect in this November election. Which raises the the big question here, which is is there some legal precedent that could take hold or is there some existing litigation that could take hold that creates precedent that would finally um disallow this as a practice? Because if something doesn't if someone's got to give here like if if somebody doesn't put a stop to this, then we're going to see every election not just, you know, not just descend into election denialism, but have some Republican candidate go in and seize the ballots. And so I think that's that's the principal question here.
Before you answer that though, I I want to let folks know that Mark is doing the the absolute best coverage of all things uh voting and elections in the entire country right now in the entire media ecosystem, both legacy media and independent media. So if you're not yet subscribed to Democracy Docket, that is the news outlet he founded to focus on everything voting and elections. It is the single resource that I use on a daily basis. Please make sure you're signed up, especially as we head toward midterms, especially as we talk about issues like the one we're talking about right here. You will not find better coverage anywhere than on democracy. So, I'm going to put that link right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. So, Mark, going back to that question, can you talk about the idea of creating some legal precedent so that we're not just, you know, in the wild west of of seizing ballots?
>> Yeah, I mean, I think you're exactly right. I mean, look, we have had so far, just to take a look at all three circumstances we've talked about in in um the Northern District of Georgia, we had the ballot seized by the US attorney for Missouri. Okay? Literally Missouri, seizing ballots in Georgia, in Arizona,
>> which which by the way should should should tell you something about how far they had to go to find some hack who was willing to do Trump's bidding.
>> Right. In Arizona, we they had to obtain copies of the ballots from the Republican state senate. Okay. And here we've got the the local sheriff in one county um you know seizing these ballots. So what's interesting about this is in one instances it's federal prosecutors and the FBI going to uh federal magistrate judge. In another, it is uh uh it is uh the it is prosecutors issuing a subpoena to a friendly Senate uh member of the the Senate leadership. And here you just have a partisan right-wing Republican sheriff who's running for governor, right? Who's like literally running for governor um uh and using this as I assume now will be part of his campaign his campaign slogan. Look, I mean, we're just going to see this proliferate in more and more directions as more and more Republican election deniers find their own angle into seizing ballots. I mean, Tina Peters didn't seize ballots, but Tina Peters, the woman in Colorado who's who's uh, you know, serving a prison sentence, she was involved in tampering with um, you know, uh, election data, election information or equipment, what, whatever it was. And like that was just her way in. Well, just just imagine now every Republican election is finding their own vector into how to disrupt the accurate vote counting by seizing ballots or corrupting voting machines or or whatever it is. And by the way, can I just add here the idea that that Governor Polus, a Democrat, might pardon Tina Peters, an absolutely calamity and and a a dark stain on democracy. I mean, I hope that's not true. I hope that that reporting is not accurate. So, if you live in Colorado, you might want to drop your governor note and ask him what the he's even thinking about doing this for.
>> Yeah, I I think that's exactly right. Um, I think it's worth asking here as we watch this this Chad Biano story continue to play itself out. How is it legal that Chad Biano can seize any ballots at all? Like, if I were to go into some election center, I can't imagine and try to and try to get my hands on ballots. I can't imagine that ending any way other than with my arrest. And so is this just a matter of maybe I'm maybe I'm thinking that the law that that there is a law that prevents me from from doing something that in fact doesn't exist. Maybe it's an issue of Chad Biano because he's a local sheriff being able to abuse his position for partisan purposes and that's a problem unto itself. Like can you talk about the legality of this move from in the first place?
Look, I think we need to come down like a ton of bricks on these folks. And you know, I mentioned Tina Peters because the fact is if you are a state or a local election official who is screwing around with the vote, you should be you should be prosecuted. And that's also true if you're the sheriff or I don't care who. I mean, you know, like Donald Trump can pardon whoever he wants for for for federal crimes, but he can't pardon for state crimes, right? And I don't know whether Biano has or is not. I don't know enough about California law. I assume the attorney general is looking at all options. But I will tell you this. When the when the Republicans in Coochis County, Arizona, thought they'd pull shenanigans and not certified the election results after the 2022 election, not only did I sue them and win, but they then got criminally prosecuted. So again, I don't know what the law is in California. I don't know whether this is or is not something that could be criminally investigated. But I'm just saying this. If if Democrats and people who care about democracy don't use every tool available to put an end to this, then we're just going to encourage it. And so, you know, whether you are, you know, in California or you're in Arizona or you're in Georgia, for that matter, if you're in Washington State, New York or Alabama or Mississippi, we need everybody, everybody who's watching this video to be paying attention to this and share it with your friends and your family. You can leave a comment. I love reading the comments here, but please share this video with your friends and family because they need to know that we are not up to two, we are now up to three ballot seizures and and and it is spreading. And like I said, and Brian, maybe you can give us um a little bit of update here. I don't think this guy's going to be the next governor of California, but he's like one of the two major Republican choices that they put forward, right?
>> Correct. We have we have a jungle primary system in in California, which means regardless of political party, the top two vote getters will advance to the general election. And right now, because the vote is split among so many Democrats, not just Tommy Styer, um Eric Swallwell, Katie Porter, um but there are there are like five or six other Democrats. And so the vote is so fractured that these two Republicans, including Chad Biano and I believe the other one is Steve Hilton, um have bubbled up to the top and are right now leading in the polls. Now, I presume that as we get closer to the primary, some of these folks will drop out. But the reality is that we are right now too close for comfort. And the fact that somebody is right now leading in the polls or one of the two top vote getters in California according to polling is right now seizing ballots in a in in the the true blue bastion that is California is uh is is cause for alarm and also a testament to the fact that this is not necessarily just something that is um relegated to the darkest corners of the the reddest areas in the country. This is again like a a major candidate for the governor of California. So, this is becoming more and more mainstream, which to your exact point is why it needs to be dealt with immediately so that this doesn't become the new litmus test on the right where every time you uh you're engaged in some election that you're not happy with the outcome, you just go ahead and take the ballots and God knows what what they'll do once they actually have the ballots at their disposal.
>> Yeah. Look, and just a a shout out here for people who are who are worried about this. I think the attorney general Rob Bont who has been a great friend and ally in the fight for democracy. I am sure he and his team have this under control. I know that they have been pushing back on this sheriff and I am sure they are going to do everything they can. But we need around the country more people like him, you know, more attorneys general who are taking this seriously. So I don't want anyone to to to get down on what uh the governor and the AG and the secretary of state and everyone do in California because they're treating this seriously. But we're going to see this proliferate if all of us around the country don't do the same.
>> Yeah. And look, there is no better fighter for all of this stuff than Mark and his team. So again, a small step that everybody watching right now can take to support his work, elevate his voice, and give him some support in the courtroom where they're fighting on the front lines for democracy. Small step we can all take is to subscribe to Democracy Docket. Again, it's a resource that I use on a daily basis and will continue to use, especially as we get closer and closer to midterms, especially as we see more um antics like this continue to present themselves. So, I'm going to put the link to Democracy Docket right here on the screen. If you're watching right now, make sure to click that link and subscribe. And of course, to see more videos of Democracy Watch, that link's on the screen as well. I'm Brian Taylor Cohen.
>> I'm Mark Elias.
>> This is Democracy Watch.