US presidential election: in California, the battle of the ballot boxes
An American voter places her ballot for the November 3 presidential election in a mailbox in Los Angeles on October 5, 2020. MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
All over the streets in the United States, mailbox-shaped ballot boxes have been set up to receive early ballots.
But in recent days, unofficial ballot boxes have appeared in California, installed by Donald Trump's Republican party;
who regularly denounces irregularities linked to postal voting.
California authorities order their withdrawal on pain of prosecution, fearing electoral fraud.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in San Francisco,
Éric de Salve
These gray metal boxes look like the official ballot box, sort of letterbox that the American authorities have installed in the streets to allow voters to confidently deposit their ballots in advance and so reduce queues in the midst of the pandemic on presidential day, November 3.
Problem: yet officially stamped, these gray ballot boxes are "
false, misleading and illegal,
" according to the California Minister of Justice.
It is in fact the
Republican Party
that has installed them for a few days in conservative counties near Fresno and Los Angeles, often outside churches or in front of armories.
60% of postal votes in favor of Biden
Fearing that the initiative could lead to fraud, the State of California is giving the Republican Party until Thursday to withdraw this fifty fake ballot boxes, on pain of prosecution.
But the spokesperson for the largely minority conservative party in California refuses.
“
It's a simple ballot collection program,
” he said, “
and we'll continue.
"
The showdown comes as
Donald Trump
has continued for weeks to denounce without proof the biggest fraud in history linked to postal voting.
However, due to the coronavirus, postal voting risks reaching record levels and representing half of the ballots.
And according to a Pew Institute poll, over 60% of mail-in votes are votes for Joe Biden.
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See also: Postal voting: a major issue in the US presidential election
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United States
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USA Elections 2020
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