October 29, 2026, 2:45 p.m. ET
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that, to ensure the integrity of the election, he would deploy teams of election law attorneys and poll watchers across the state to monitor federal agents the Trump administration plans to place at polling places.
As the November election approaches, President Donald Trump and his administration have meddled in California’s elections, with the Justice Department filing a lawsuit against the state to void more than 20,000 ballots that the government said were sent to noncitizens, and the department announcing plans to deploy federal agents throughout the county to monitor the election.
“We see what he does on a daily basis to literally suppress the vote in order to set the conditions under which he will then express doubts about the election result and suggest that it was rigged. Those are table stakes,” Newsom said during an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show.
However, Newsom warned the administration that his office would not allow federal agents to operate in the state without safeguards to protect elections. That’s why his office and the California Democratic Party created new Election Integrity Teams to address concerns about the presence of federal agents at polling places.
“Right now, I’m focused on recruiting over a thousand election workers, people to monitor the DOJ monitors that Trump is going to send to try to steal this election,” Newsom said.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this. That we have to do this. We don’t do stupid things. Neither does he, but we can’t do stupid things.”
The California Democratic Party has created a multilingual voter protection hotline, through which voters can report problems or seek help at their local polling place. The party also created a legal statewide Rapid Response Ballot Curing Assistance program to ensure eligible votes are counted. Voters can report problems by calling 1-877-321-VOTE (8683).
The state’s election integrity teams will include more than 800 poll observers, 134 election law attorneys and 54 hotline operators, according to Newsom.
Newsom said trained attorneys and volunteers will be stationed at county election offices throughout the day and particularly in “key Congressional districts, including California’s District 6, District 13, District 22, District 45 and District 48, which were created as a result of Proposition 50.
That’s why the California Democratic Party is mobilizing volunteers, deploying voter protection teams, and working around the clock to ensure that every eligible Californian can vote, every legal vote is counted, and no one is denied their voice in our democracy,” Rusty Hicks, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said in a statement.
Newsom also warned the federal government that a new state law makes it a crime to illegally seize ballots, election records or tamper with voting technology while the state is counting votes.
“A federal badge is not a license to intimidate voters or interfere with an election. We defeated Trump’s redistricting power grab. And if he tries to steal this election, we will defeat him again,” Newsom said in a statement.
“We know what he’s going to do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of next week. That’s exactly what we’re preparing for. It’s not a dress rehearsal. It’s all on the line and we draw the line,” he said on the Kimmel show.
Noe Padilla is a Northern California reporter for USA Today. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.comfollow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. Sign up for the TODAY Californian newsletter or follow us on Facebook at TODAY Californian.
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