California City Approves Anti-Voting Measure Using Debunked Election Data

In a move that has raised concerns among election experts, Huntington Beach, California’s city council unanimously passed a resolution last week targeting alleged voter fraud, relying on disputed data from the controversial group Unite4Freedom.

The resolution, which aims to “ensure a legally valid and transparent 2026 General Election,” grants election officials broad powers to withhold ballots from voters whose U.S. citizenship is questioned, implement strict chain-of-custody protocols, and potentially “re-administer any election that cannot be proven accurate and compliant.”

While vague on specific enforcement mechanisms, the measure cites data from Unite4Freedom claiming widespread voter fraud occurred in California during the 2024 general election. Before the vote, a Unite4Freedom volunteer reportedly presented findings alleging that over 20% of Orange County’s ballots were unverifiable.

“The irregularities in the official records of the 2024 General Election call into question the validity of the election, threatening the guaranteed protection of our natural rights under a republican form of government,” the resolution states. It further claims the situation “raises the specter of false representation in US Congress and state governments — an allegation that election officials are currently unable to disprove.”

Bob Page, Orange County’s Registrar of Voters, firmly rejects these assertions. “Their claim that about 20% of voters are non-existent or not eligible does not align with Orange County Registrar of Voters data that shows 99.9% of the 1.9 million active registered voters in Orange County have provided proof of identity in order to vote in federal elections,” Page told Democracy Docket.

Page has repeatedly requested Unite4Freedom’s complete audit data to verify their methodology, but the group has refused to cooperate. Joe Hoft, a co-founder of The Gateway Pundit who works with Unite4Freedom, dismissed Page’s requests, suggesting in an email that election officials “will not understand the work perform [sic] or the analysis accomplished.” In another exchange, Hoft questioned Page’s legitimate interest in discovering the truth.

Unite4Freedom, previously known as United Sovereign Americans, has gained notoriety since forming last year for filing numerous lawsuits challenging voter roll maintenance procedures across the country. Their legal actions have included dubious claims, such as allegations that Colorado had at least 1.4 million ineligible voters in the 2024 election and that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson failed to verify over 57 million voter records.

Some Huntington Beach residents have voiced opposition to the council’s action. “Please don’t waste any more of the taxpayer’s money on frivolous nonsense,” one resident wrote in a comment to the council, according to the Los Angeles Times. “There was only Mayor Burns’ statement agreeing with unfounded numbers stated by a biased organization.”

This resolution represents the latest in a series of controversial voting measures advanced by Huntington Beach. Last year, voters approved a strict voter ID requirement that was later successfully challenged by the state. The city’s attorney, Michael Gates, who defended the voter ID law, has since been appointed as deputy assistant attorney general of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in the Trump administration.

The situation in Huntington Beach reflects a broader trend of election conspiracy theories influencing local governance across the country. In Fulton County, Georgia, two election deniers with connections to anti-voting groups Tea Party Patriots and the Election Integrity Network recently secured positions on the board of elections, despite opposition from the governing board.

Nearly five years after the 2020 election, the persistence of unfounded election fraud claims continues to shape local policy, as conspiracy-driven groups increasingly attempt to infiltrate election administration systems. Their stated goal is to tighten voting rules while lending credibility to claims that have been repeatedly debunked by election officials, courts, and independent experts nationwide.