Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill removing a layer of mail-in ballot signature verification days before the start of the state’s elections.

Senate bill 73 was signed into law May 27 and immediately took effect — just before California’s elections began on June 2. It was enacted to protect “the integrity of California’s elections,” according to a press release from California State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes.

The law also bans mail-in ballot observers (the people watching these ballots being processed) from contesting the validity of a signature.

Select observers are allowed to watch the vote-by-mail process to ensure fairness. These include a member of the county grand jury, a member of both the Republican and Democratic county central committees, a member of any other party whose candidate is on the ballot, and other interested organizations.

While they can watch the process and challenge how mail-in-ballots are handled, they are not allowed to contest the validity of the signatures of vote-by-mail-ballots, according to the bill’s text.

Observers are not allowed to challenge those signatures “…on the basis that they believe the signature does not compare with the signatures appearing in the voter’s registration record,” the legislation states.

7. SB 73 (signed just last month) explicitly prevents any observer to challenge or re-verify signatures on the envelope.https://t.co/qI9rfSfCPc pic.twitter.com/2qFUzShjq6

— John Lakeman (@TheVantasner) June 7, 2026

Election officials are still required to compare the voter’s signature on a vote-by-mail ballot to other records of their signature. The law provides a way for voters to verify their signature. (RELATED: CA County Discovers Nearly 600 Uncounted Mail-In Ballots Months After Redistricting Vote)

Republican State Sen. Tony Strickland, to highlight his disapproval of SB 73, pointed to an incident where a woman allegedly registered her dog to vote.
“You know, we had a situation in Orange County where a dog voted in the last two elections, and here in the legislature, what you’re trying to do is make sure that we don’t have transparency on the voter rolls,” Strickland said in a floor speech.

“At a time where people across this country want more voter integrity, and they want to make sure they have comfort in the election outcomes that we have, the last thing we need to do is have less transparency,” he added.

This bill comes as California has been criticized for its use of mail-in ballots, especially during its recent elections. The state faces a delay in vote tabulation due to the mail-in ballots it is still receiving. In addition, it is one of the few universal mail-in voting states, which sends ballots to all active registered voters. California even counts mail-in ballots that were received after Election Day.