Most days, the California’s secretary of state’s tasks include overseeing business filings, historic documents and notaries public. But come election time, the state agency becomes a conductor in a symphony of activity essential to democracy.
Leading the orchestra is Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who thinks California’s elections are secure. Hoping to take her baton in the Nov. 3 general election is Don Wagner, who supports requiring voters to show identification before they cast ballots.
The secretary of state sets standards, enforces laws and certifies results in federal, statewide and state legislative elections in partnership with election officials in 58 counties. This includes overseeing how elections are conducted, from approving voting technology and setting deadlines to determining the order in which candidates’ names appear on ballots.
Weber first got her job through a round
Weber first got her job through a round of political music chairs. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her to the role in 2020 after picking then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the U.S. Senate seat held by Kamala Harris until she became vice president.
Elected to a four-year term in 2022, Weber, a Democrat and former state assemblymember who served on San Diego’s school board, is seeking reelection in November for an office that pays about $184,000 annually.
Opposing her is Wagner, a Republican and Orange County supervisor. Weber and Wagner advanced to the general election by finishing first and second, respectively, out of four candidates in the June primary.
Nationally, debate rages about whether U.S
Nationally, debate rages about whether U.S. elections are secure. Studies show voter fraud is exceedingly rare and nowhere near the level that would change an election’s outcome, but President Donald Trump continues to push for voting restrictions while repeating false claims that he won the 2020 election.
California’s elections “are free and fair,” Weber, 78, said in response to a Southern California News Group voter guide questionnaire.
“The best thing that could happen to reassure voters would be for the president to stop lying,” she said. “But that seems unlikely to happen given his temperament.”
Absent that, Weber added, I will continue
“Absent that,” Weber added, “I will continue to be transparent and fair — our office investigates any claims of election irregularities, and we work tirelessly to get it right.”
A former Irvine mayor who also served in the Assembly and as a community college trustee, Wagner, 65, noted that he sued the secretary of state to clear what he said were more than 870,000 “ghost voters” from the voting rolls.
“That is not to say that the fraud is so rampant as to affect elections,” Wagner wrote responding to the questionnaire. “But those facts, and much else, makes it legitimate, even inevitable, for voters to question the integrity of our system.”
If elected, Wagner said he would start reforms
If elected, Wagner said he would start reforms “to count ballots faster, to actually do what state and federal law permit the secretary of state to do to clean the voter rolls of those who have moved, passed away, or have no right to vote, and by implementing a chain of custody for ‘harvested’ ballots.”
Ballot harvesting is a term, often used derisively by conservatives, referring to the legal practice of one person dropping off multiple ballots, each cast by an individual voter.
Wagner and Weber also differ on voter ID. Wagner supports Proposition 39, a November ballot measure that would mandate the practice.
Most states have some form of voter ID,
“Most states have some form of voter ID, and those laws have been proven not to depress turnout or deny voting rights to anyone,” he said.
“It is not hard to obtain an ID and certainly not discriminatory to require proof of ID to cast a vote. A voter ID law will go a long way to restoring trust in our election system.”
Weber called Proposition 39 “unnecessary.”
“Californians already have to present valid identification to register to vote in the first place,” she said. “This measure will depress turnout by making it harder to exercise the franchise in order to solve a fake problem.”
If elected, Wagner said he’d fight for California’s
If elected, Wagner said he’d fight for California’s open primary system, which sends the top two vote-getters for an office, regardless of party, to the general election. He also wants to make the office of secretary of state nonpartisan.
If reelected, Weber said she’d continue to “strongly support” the practice of sending a mail-in ballot to every registered voter in California.
“The expansion of vote by mail has been a wild success for increasing voter turnout,” she said.
