California’s top elections official says she’s not concerned by federal monitors
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Secretary of State Weber assures voters and coordinates county officials on polling rules.
- Election timeline remains under state law; counties retain 30 days to process ballots.
- Federal monitors sent to five counties; state, local officials plan reciprocal oversight.
During the final days of voting on California’s high-stakes redistricting ballot measure, Secretary of State Shirley Weber is seeking to dispel panic and reassure voters that the election will continue to run smoothly.
“Given the environment that you see on TV,” Weber said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee on Friday, “we have folks who are probably more concerned now than they’ve been in the past. So we have to reassure them of all the rights that they have.”
Her office is making sure county officials and law enforcement are up to speed on what is and isn’t allowed at polling locations and how to deal with disruptions.
Voting ends Tuesday on Proposition 50, which asks voters to approve a new congressional map benefitting Democrats as part of a redistricting war with Texas and other Republican-led states.
Weber said she’s “not really” concerned about the Trump administration’s deploying federal election monitors to certain areas of the state, noting that it’s common practice for campaigns, political parties, pro-democracy organizations and other groups to have poll watchers on the ground.
“We always have observers,” she said. “We’re prepared to host them and help them to understand the limitations of what they can do.”
The federal monitors are being sent to Fresno, Kern, Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Concerned with the move, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and some local officials — including in Fresno — said they plan to send their own poll watchers to monitor the federal ones.
“Maybe I should send my monitors to monitor (Bonta’s) monitors, monitoring my monitors,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon joked during a Thursday night CNN interview.
Dhillon, a former leader in the California Republican Party, criticized the “hysterical reaction” of Bonta, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, who on Thursday sent a letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi demanding that she call off the federal election monitors.
“We are not there to interfere. We are there to observe. We are there to document,” Dhillon told CNN’s Elex Michaelson Thursday. “If there are irregularities and they’re not resolved onsite, then there may be legal action otherwise, and perhaps that’s what California is concerned about.” She added that New Jersey officials have “been very cooperative.”
Dhillon also issued a warning: “Anybody, including a state official, who attempts to interfere with a federal election official or law enforcement doing their jobs will face the consequences of that. There is zero tolerance under Pam Bondi’s DOJ for those types of shenanigans.”
How quickly can we expect results?
Because there’s only one question on the ballot this election, Weber said it’s possible that results — which can typically take days or weeks to determine close races in California — will likely be known sooner than usual.
While media outlets “can predict exactly what’s happening and tell the whole world what’s going on,” Weber said, state and county election officials would follow a timeline set by state lawmakers, which gives counties 30 days to process mail ballots and finalize their results.
Newsom recently signed a law shortening that window, but it does not take effect until Jan. 1.
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 12:45 PM with the headline "California’s top elections official says she’s not concerned by federal monitors."
