The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Trump Administration last month from imposing new mail-voting requirements ahead of the November 2026 general election, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced at a press conference in Los Angeles.
The state secured other recent court victories protecting voting access. California's Supreme Court ordered the return of approximately 650,000 voted ballots that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco had unlawfully seized and affirmed the Attorney General's authority to supervise county sheriffs. In August, a state appellate court upheld a preliminary injunction blocking Shasta County's Measure B, which would have eliminated vote-by-mail and most early voting and imposed new voter registration and identification requirements.
With the election three weeks away on Tuesday, November 3, Bonta urged voters who choose to mail their ballots to send them at least one week before Election Day to allow time for postmarking and delivery. Eligible Californians must register to vote by Monday, October 19 at registertovote.ca.gov, though Same Day Voter Registration remains available in-person after that deadline.
To be counted, a mail ballot must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the voter's county elections office no later than seven days after Election Day. In the June 2026 primary, 148,241 mail ballots were rejected statewide, with nearly two-thirds rejected for being postmarked after Election Day or arriving late.
The California Department of Justice published guidance on voting rights for people with disabilities, noting that federal law requires election officials allow voters to receive assistance from a person of the voter's choice if the voter is blind or has another disability requiring assistance, and mandates accessible voting systems and facilities.