California SB 73 Is A Ballot-Custody Law, Not An Anyone-Can-Vote Rule

BadPD claim-check, June 20, 2026; source dates May 27-28, 2026: California Governor Gavin Newsom did sign an emergency election bill, Senate Bill 73. The source trail does not support the claim that it lets anyone vote.

The clean read is this: SB 73 is a ballot-custody, election-interference, and law-enforcement-access law. It changes who can touch ballots, voter lists, voting equipment, and vote-by-mail processing spaces. It does not rewrite the official voter-eligibility rules.

What SB 73 Actually Does

The chaptered bill text says SB 73 was approved by the governor and filed with the Secretary of State on May 27, 2026. It declares itself an urgency statute, meaning it took effect immediately. The legislative digest says the bill prohibits a peace officer from interfering with the administration of an election and authorizes enforcement through civil actions by the Attorney General, Secretary of State, or county elections officials.

The bill also addresses the records and equipment that make an election auditable. It restricts law-enforcement access to rosters, combined rosters, voter lists, and certified voting technology unless a court order applies or a narrow voting-fraud investigation exception is met. It adds penalties and civil enforcement for taking a package containing voted ballots from the custody of an elections official.

That is chain of custody. It is not voter eligibility.

The Anyone-Can-Vote Claim Fails The Official-Source Check

The California Secretary of State’s voter-eligibility page still says a person registering to vote in California must be a United States citizen, a California resident, 18 years old or older on Election Day, and not currently serving a state or federal prison term for a felony conviction.

SB 73 does not erase those requirements in the bill text. It does not say noncitizens can vote. It does not say unregistered people can vote. It does not say ballots stop being signature-checked. In fact, the bill keeps vote-by-mail ballot processing open to observers and allows observers to challenge whether handlers are following procedures, while barring observers from second-guessing a voter signature after it has already been verified by the voter.

That distinction matters. A real election-integrity story can exist without turning it into a false eligibility claim. SB 73 is about who controls ballots, equipment, lists, observers, and law-enforcement presence around election operations.

Why California Passed It

The governor’s signing release describes the bill as a response to interference, intimidation, unauthorized law-enforcement activity, and ballot-security concerns before the June 2 statewide primary. CalMatters reported the law followed Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 600,000 ballots from the county registrar earlier in 2026 while investigating claimed irregularities.

CalMatters also reported there was no evidence showing ballots were cast improperly in that Riverside episode. KVCR’s local report framed SB 73 as a law preventing unauthorized ballot seizures, blocking law-enforcement access to voting equipment and voter lists without a court order, and directing California DOJ guidance for local election workers responding to law-enforcement requests.

The accountability question is not whether the state can wave away eligibility. The accountability question is whether counties, law enforcement agencies, courts, and state officials maintain a public record showing when ballots or systems can be accessed, who authorized access, and how voters and observers can verify that the count stayed lawful.

Confirmed, Disputed, Pending

Confirmed: Newsom signed SB 73 on May 27, 2026. The chaptered bill text restricts election interference by peace officers, law-enforcement access to voter lists and voting technology, unauthorized taking of voted ballots, and some polling-place security conduct. The Secretary of State’s eligibility page still requires U.S. citizenship, California residency, age eligibility, and felony-incarceration eligibility limits.

Unsupported claim: the source trail does not support saying SB 73 means anyone can vote. The official eligibility page says otherwise, and the bill text is focused on election administration and custody rules.

Pending records to watch: Attorney General guidance required by SB 73, county-level law-enforcement request logs, court orders authorizing any access to ballots or voting technology, Riverside County warrant and inventory records, any civil action filed under the new law, and post-primary reports from counties about observer disputes, ballot custody, or equipment-access requests.

The BadPD position is narrow: claims about election law should attach the bill text. SB 73 is fair game for accountability coverage because it changes how power can be used around ballots. But calling it an anyone-can-vote rule is not supported by the official receipts.

Source Trail

• California Legislative Information: SB 73 Elections, chaptered bill text (published May 27, 2026) – Primary bill text showing SB 73 was approved and filed May 27, 2026, took effect immediately, and amended election-interference, ballot-custody, voter-list, observer, and voting-technology rules.
• Governor Newsom: legislation to protect California elections from interference and intimidation (May 27, 2026) – Official signing release describing the law as election-worker, voter, and ballot-security protection against interference, intimidation, and unauthorized law-enforcement activity.
• California Secretary of State: Who Can Vote in California (current eligibility page checked June 20, 2026) – Official voter-eligibility receipt: California registration still requires U.S. citizenship, California residency, age 18 or older on Election Day, and not currently serving a state or federal prison term for a felony conviction.
• CalMatters: California bans cops from seizing election ballots (May 27, 2026) – Local/state reporting on the Riverside County ballot-seizure context and how SB 73 responds to unauthorized law-enforcement interference.
• KVCR: Newsom signs law to prevent ballot seizures before primary (May 28, 2026) – Public-radio/local California report summarizing ballot-seizure, voting-equipment, voter-list, and election-worker guidance provisions.