The June primary election exposed an unacceptable potential for voter fraud in California that the state Legislature must immediately fix.
In just three counties, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara, 194 people voted twice, suggesting the abuse statewide might run into the thousands.
Unfortunately, Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s office exacerbated the problem just before the primary election with its questionable reading of an ambiguous law.
Before the November election, he should join efforts to provide safeguards for local election officials so this doesn’t happen again.
This isn’t one of those conservative pushes to disenfranchise voters; it’s a problem that can be solved quickly without making it more difficult to vote. Left unchecked, the vulnerability can be easily exploited.