Newsom signs law banning police interference with elections Play

Law enforcement officers will be banned from interfering with California elections under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday.

The June 2 primary election is already underway.

The emergency law is aimed directly at Donald Trump and his effort to interfere with state elections — an effort that the president has already declared to be underway.

The United States Constitution clearly places elections under the authority of states, not the federal government.

The new state law makes it a criminal act to take away ballots from the custody of a local election official. That's what Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco did a month ago, when he seized more than 600,000 ballots from the Riverside County registrar of voters. Bianco claimed he was checking for proof of fraudulent voting, but there was no evidence to suggest any ballots had been cast improperly in the last election.

"We have to step up, and we have to draw the line. We have to clarify the rules of engagement," Newsom told reporters before signing the legislation. "It's a warning to the folks out there that think they can do the bidding of the Trump administration."