Which CA voters still don’t have full access?

State officials often tout how easy it is to vote in California: Everyone gets a ballot in the mail a month before Election Day, which can then be mailed back for free, dropped off in ballot boxes or turned in at polling places.

But for some groups of voters, access is still a problem — voters with visual impairments, for instance. 

As CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu and Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal explain, more than 892,000 Californians have a visual disability, and about 93% of them are of voting age. But while the state guarantees every voter the right to a secret ballot and to any assistance they need, blind voters and others who struggle to use printed materials due to conditions such as learning disabilities or dexterity issues still face barriers and a dearth of alternatives.

Valerie Morishige, a voting rights advocate in Los Angeles County: “Our system has a long way to go. Our entire culture, honestly, has a long way to go to make this accessible for folks.”

Disability advocates are now suing Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office to allow voters who have difficulty using printed materials to vote electronically and return their ballots via fax machines in the November election. This option is already available to California’s military and overseas voters, as well as voters with disabilities in a dozen states such as Colorado and Hawaii.

The case is scheduled for a June 24 hearing in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. 

Currently, California voters with disabilities who want to submit their mail-in ballot after filling it out electronically (an accessibility achievement in itself that was made possible by new laws and legal fights) still need to find a printer. But without assistance from sighted people, visually impaired voters can’t always guarantee their ballot was correctly printed or that the envelope was correctly signed.

This dependence on others can also interfere with a voter’s right to a secret ballot. An individual may have to reveal who they are voting for to a caregiver, family member or friend. Political views may not always align, leading to, at best, an awkward situation or, at worst, conflict. Also, limited in-person voting locations can force residents to travel farther — often a more difficult task for the visually impaired.

Audio on voting machines can malfunction as well. During the June 2016 election, Tim Elder, a blind voter and disability attorney, had to wait until it was almost closing time as poll workers struggled to turn on the audio feature of voting machines. 

Elder: “I watched just voter after voter finish their ballot and move on.”

A 2022 bill that would have expanded electronic ballot return died in the Legislature after the secretary of state’s office opposed it, citing security concerns. Weber argued that while the office “supports the expansion of the franchise so that more voters can vote with more convenience,” it must also consider “the security and safety of our existing election methods.”

Learn more about the difficulties faced by visually impaired voters in Stella and Sameea’s story.

The California reaction came fast and furious to President Joe Biden’s long-awaited executive orders Tuesday severely limiting asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat and outspoken critic of the action, accused Biden of bringing back former President Donald Trump’s “asylum ban.”

Padilla, in a statement: “President Biden has undermined American values and abandoned our nation’s obligations to provide people fleeing persecution, violence, and authoritarianism with an opportunity to seek refuge in the U.S.”

Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, a Corona Democrat and chairperson of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, urged Biden to reconsider and said the caucus opposes “fear-mongering rhetoric that dehumanizes individuals who are risking their lives.”

Cervantes, in a statement: “Both California and our country deserve a functioning immigration system that is humane, efficient, and secure.”

But another Latino Democrat, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, attended the White House ceremony and praised Biden as “taking decisive, commonsense action to restore order at the southern border.”

A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom also issued a statement supporting the president’s leadership to “bolster border security” and echoing Biden’s call on Congress to act.

The statement: “As President Biden affirmed today, executive actions aren’t enough — Republicans must do their job. Congress needs to act on the bipartisan border deal, and finally work with President Biden to pass a pathway for citizenship and fix our deeply outdated immigration system.” 

GOP Senate leader Brian Jones supported Biden’s action as well, calling it “a start.”

Jones: “But to be honest, Congressional Democrats and Republicans need to quit playing politics and pass a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform package. This shouldn’t be a campaign issue. My constituents in San Diego County continue to suffer while the federal government plays politics with people’s lives.”

But what will be the real impact in California of Biden’s move?

CalMatters’ Wendy Fry, who has covered border issues for more than 15 years, writes that advocates for migrants are concerned that the California border could become more chaotic and deadly as people try to cross undetected in more remote areas. As Texas continues to militarize its border, San Diego has become the busiest location for migrant arrivals: In the first week of May, 8,303 migrants were apprehended by Border Patrol agents, compared to 3,311 during the entire month of May 2020. 

And keep in mind that Biden’s order does not apply to the millions of people who legally live in border communities, as well as the 150,000 people who cross between Baja California and California every day for work, school or medical care.

Read more on what could happen in Wendy’s story.

How are gig workers doing? What help is there for hospitality workers? In our new partnership with PBS SoCal, we have video segments by CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay and producer Robert Meeks. Watch here to learn about a case before the state Supreme Court that could transform the gig economy. And watch here to find out about a training center for hospitality workers.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal and is available on YouTube. Read more about this new venture from our engagement team.