Re: “Orange County Republicans are holding a ‘ballot collection day” (Oct 10):
The insinuation in this article that the efforts of the Republican Party to increase voter turnout is illegal, couldn’t be more wrong and we object to this biased characterization. The reporter never contacted us to understand how the effort works and omitted critical parts of the California Election Code. Ms. Hill who is quoted in this article as saying our efforts were a “really bad idea” or the author who insinuated “legal questions,” really have a problem with the Democrat law passed – not with us.
Against our will, the one-party Democrat rule in Sacramento legalized “ballot harvesting” in the state. Simply put, anyone can turn in a ballot for another voter with no relation to the voter and can turn in an unlimited number. While we object to this practice as state law, we are allowed to play by those same rules Democrats use. The author also left out the fact that this question was asked and answered in court. When California Democrats sued the California Republican Party over this issue, they lost. 100% of our efforts are well within the law. There are no “legal questions” that have not already been answered.
Finally, in 2020, Orange County Democrats used private homes as “hubs” for ballot drop off locations for Harley Rouda. The Orange County Register did not once question the “security measures” of an untrained and unaccountable volunteers’ home. Instead, in the Republican Party, ballots are being collected by trained staff following the guidelines Democrats placed into law.
Fred M. Whitaker, Republican Party of Orange County Chairman
Jessica Patterson, California Republican Party Chairwoman
