Dispute Over Unofficial Ballot Boxes Continues in Southern California

Voters Jeannie Osbourne (L) and Judy Nader (R) stand beside an official Orange County ballot drop box as they prepare to cast their ballots for the 2020 elections at the Orange County Registrar's Office in Santa Ana, Calif., on Oct. 13, 2020. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS)—California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Oct. 16 that state Republican Party officials have agreed to stop using unauthorized ballot collection boxes, but a state party spokesman had a different message.

“The rhetoric is one thing ... but our observations in the field ... is another,” Padilla said in a phone call with reporters. “Despite the rhetoric, we continue to hear the state Republican Party has agreed to cease the deployment of unauthorized, unofficial, unsecure ballot drop boxes.”