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Throughout 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump has demonized mail-in ballots as a scam, but at the same time promoted the idea of voting by mail as registration deadlines neared. Trump also called mail-in voting the biggest risk to his reelection efforts. In late May 2020, the president's efforts to cast doubt on mail-in ballots focused on California, a state that had delivered its Electoral College votes to Democratic presidential candidates every four years since 1992: Trump's tweets from May 26 followed a May 8 executive order from California Gov. Gavin Newsom that said all registered voters were to receive a mail-in ballot. At the time, the country was many weeks into the surging COVID-19 pandemic. The Associated Press reported that Republicans criticized the executive order: The story also noted that the state hoped to avoid issues faced by Wisconsin primary voters, where thousands of voters without protective gear were forced to wait for hours in long lines, while thousands more stayed home to avoid the potential health risks. Following the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in which The Associated Press projected Democrat Joe Biden was victorious, a viral tweet was shared that claimed California's mail-in ballots were unlawful. The same tweet also mentioned the state of Georgia, and used the word void in reference to unlawful mail ballots: The tweet included a link to a news story from Just The News, with the headline: Judge rules California Gov. Newsom violated Constitution with election order: Twitter users shared the story, with some appearing to believe that the judge's ruling would change the outcome of the 2020 election. Things are happening, one person tweeted. Another tweet linking to the story read: Invalidate CA mail in vote. A third tweet said: Our National election was made void and illegal by our elected official. It is true that Sutter County Judge Sarah Heckman issued a ruling on Nov. 14, which followed a similar ruling from another Sutter County judge in June. On Nov. 14, KCRA-TV reported that the judge said Newsom overstepped his executive authority by issuing mail-in ballots to all registered voters: The ruling was in reference to a lawsuit that brought because of Newsom's executive order, but before the legislature passed a similar law. On June 18, Politico reported: California enacts November mail-ballot law — with surprising GOP support: In sum, a California judge ruled that Newsom overstepped his bounds by signing an executive order to issue mail-in ballots to all registered voters. However, the state Legislature passed a similarly worded measure weeks later, with GOP support. The issuing of mail-in ballots in the state of California was not unlawful, nor is there any indication that the 2020 ballots will be considered void in the future.
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