Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media
With less than three months until the general election, Darius Kemp, executive director of California Common Cause, says California must protect both election security and voter access for the state’s approximately 23 million eligible voters.
Kemp delivered that message during a June news conference at the State Capitol promoting Senate Bill (SB) 46 and SB 884, two measures that are part of the voter protection effort some lawmakers and advocates have dubbed the “Hands Off Our Elections” initiative.
“It’s important that California continues to move forward. We have to progress and not regress,” Kemp said. “Regression is going back in time, back to the 1950s and 1960s when Black people had to show extra identification, count jellybeans in a jar, and guess the number of clouds in the sky. That’s regression.”
SB 46, the “No Kings Act,” authored by Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), would prohibit the California Secretary of State from placing a presidential candidate on the ballot if that candidate does not meet constitutional eligibility requirements, including the two-term limit for presidents.
SB 884, the “Protect Our Polls Act,” was co-authored by Umberg and Sen. Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside). The bill would expand access to early-voting and ballot drop-off locations. It would also prohibit law enforcement officers — including federal immigration agents — from enforcing immigration laws or making arrests within 200 feet of a polling place while voting is underway.
Supporters say the bills respond to national rhetoric and policies aimed at restricting voting rights, which they compare to the voter-suppression tactics Black Americans faced after Reconstruction.
California Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots government watchdog. According to its website, the organization uses grassroots organizing, litigation, policy research and legislative advocacy to increase public participation in the political process.
Kemp, an Alabama native who became executive director of California Common Cause in June 2025, said California’s voting system has faced intense national scrutiny and partisan attacks. Much of the criticism has focused on the state’s vote-counting timeline and the Trump administration’s unsubstantiated allegations of widespread fraud and noncitizen voting.
Kemp said federal efforts to impose new voting restrictions on established election systems across the country echo the restrictive messages his family encountered in Alabama.
“I know my family history and my family lived that history, of voter suppression and intimidation,” Kemp said. “The reason why the Ku Klux Klan existed was partially to intimidate Black people from expressing their rights.”
“In California, we’re making it easier and safer for citizens to vote, and we’re not going to back down on that pledge to make sure that every Californian who can vote, and wants to vote, has the right to vote, and their vote counts,” he added.
Umberg said the bills are intended to protect election integrity, prevent voter intimidation and limit federal interference near polling locations.
“California is facing serious threats to the integrity of our elections, and we will not treat those threats as idle or theoretical,” Umberg said. “We need to take proactive steps now to safeguard voters and preserve confidence in the electoral process. This ‘Hands Off Our Elections’ initiative does exactly that, by reinforcing California’s constitutional right and responsibility to run our own safe and secure elections.”
Both measures have drawn opposition.
The Peace and Freedom Party of California opposes SB 46, arguing that it would create an unnecessary bureaucratic burden for third-party, independent and left-wing candidates seeking to appear on the California ballot.
The party also argues that a candidate’s constitutional eligibility may sometimes be legally unclear. Requiring candidates to affirm their eligibility under penalty of perjury could therefore expose them to legal risk, it says.
The California State Sheriffs’ Association and other law enforcement groups oppose SB 884, primarily because it would restrict officers’ authority to make arrests and enforce laws near polling locations.
The bill would allow officers to make arrests within the protected zone for specified offenses, including crimes that disrupt polling-place operations, threaten or harm individuals, or involve property damage or theft.
Jonathan Feldman, representing the California Police Chiefs Association, told the Assembly Public Safety Committee on June 30 that SB 884 could create a temporary safe zone in which officers would be unable to make arrests for offenses such as driving under the influence, selling drugs or engaging in disorderly conduct.
“In very respectful opposition, understanding the goal of the bill, I think we still have some concerns about limitations on legitimate police enforcement in and around the polling sites,” Feldman said. “I think there are also concerns about how this proposes to create an interaction between state and local law enforcement and federal officers in these situations.”
The California Association of Clerks and Election Officials also opposes SB 884. The organization says the requirement to expand vote-by-mail ballot drop-off locations would impose significant financial and logistical burdens on local election agencies.
It also warned that election offices already face severe staffing shortages and lack enough secure public facilities to meet the proposed requirements.
As of July 31, SB 46 and SB 884 were under review by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
“These bills that (Umberg and Cervantes) have put forward are important in maintaining California’s leadership as one of the fairest states where it is the easiest to vote, where we are constantly checking and verifying votes, and making sure the enfranchised have the right to vote,” Kemp said.
