By JW August / Special to OB Rag
Shirley Weber, California’s Secretary of State. has responded to a recent veiled threat from the Trump administration warning about criminal prosecutions of any election official allowing ineligible individuals to vote.
President Trump frequently repeats the claim of ineligible voters swinging the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost. No legitimate evidence has ever been provided to back the claim.
Weber’s response was to a letter from attorney and Trump supporter Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the administration’s civil rights division as an Assistant Attorney General. Weber told Dhillon that “California is in full compliance with federal election law obligations.”
Weber did not respond to an offer of “assistance” from the Trump administration. Instead her unspoken response seemed to say, California electors know what they are doing. To prove her point she sent Dhillon a lengthy list of California and federal laws and codes her office enforces.
She told Dhillon, who is a rising star in Republican ranks, “California has robust state law and regulatory safeguards in place to ensure that only U.S citizens register to vote.”
She reinforces this further, stating that the state “unambiguously provides that a person shall not be registered unless they are a United States citizen.”
Dhillon has told various media organizations that civil rights in the country have “gone too far” and she intends to reimagine its role. The foundation of civil rights began with the abolition of slavery in the 13th Amendment in 1865, and 99 years later it has evolved with legislation prohibiting discrimination based on race, color sex, religion and national origin.
Weber was first appointed to office in 2020, after eight years in the state Assembly representing San Diego’s 79th Assembly District, Now she faces Republican Don Wagner in her re-election effort this November.
Wagner’s platform is about “election integrity.” He will be focused on the issue of voter ID and “cleaning voter rolls.” Wagner’s reason for running is “restoring public trust in elections.”
Editordude: Here’s Weber’s letter, dated July 9, 2026:
