Few voting issues reported with California recall election

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Californians voted to support Gov. Gavin Newsom successful bureau connected Tuesday, ending a statewide callback predetermination that saw immoderate Republicans again interval unfounded claims of elector fraud.

Days earlier the polls closed, the run of 1 of the starring Republican candidates promoted a website urging radical to motion a petition that declared Newsom had already won due to the fact that of elector fraud. That connection was lifted from a petition circulated to assistance erstwhile President Donald Trump's effort to overturn past year's statesmanlike predetermination results.

By Tuesday afternoon, that connection was removed from the website, leaving lone a signifier for radical to study “irregularities, interference, oregon intimidation portion voting.” A spokeswoman for Elder said the website is operated by a 3rd enactment and that “websites update their connection each the time."

The claims of fraud — some from Elder and erstwhile President Donald Trump — prompted a rebuke from Newsom successful an predetermination nighttime triumph speech.

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“Democracy is not a football. You don't propulsion it around,” Newsom said. “It's much similar a, I don't know, an antique vase. You tin driblet it and smash it into a cardinal antithetic pieces. And that's what we're susceptible of doing if we don't basal up to conscionable the infinitesimal and propulsion back.”

There were fewer reported problems with voting connected Tuesday. A polling halfway successful Tulare County was closed due to the fact that of a wildfire, with voters redirected to adjacent alternatives. And a canvass idiosyncratic astatine a West Hollywood voting tract was removed for wearing a pro-Trump shirt, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office.

Some Republicans disquieted the fraud claims from immoderate enactment leaders could suppress turnout. Harmeet Dhillon, an lawyer and the nationalist committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California, said she made a video with her hubby showing them casting ballots by message and urging everyone to bash the same.

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But Dhillon besides said she could not accidental whether California's predetermination would beryllium secure, saying she and a squad of attorneys monitoring voting person witnessed dozens of problems.

“There volition beryllium a batch of questions and perchance litigation aft this predetermination astir this sloppy-at-best attraction of people’s ballots and their close to vote,” Dhillon said.

The GOP's predicament was akin to that successful past year's statesmanlike election, erstwhile galore successful the enactment feared that Trump's claims astir wide fraud from expanded mail-in voting would backfire by persuading Republicans to enactment home.

In California, the GOP needed each the assistance it could get.

Democrats marque up 46.5% of each registered voters, portion Republicans marque up conscionable 24%. Independent voters are astir equivalent to Republicans, but thin to ballot Democratic. Republicans person not won a statewide bureau since 2006, erstwhile Arnold Schwarzenegger won reelection arsenic governor.

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Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood successful Los Angeles and Nicholas Riccardi successful Denver contributed to this report.

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See AP’s implicit sum of the California callback election: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.