Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) launched his bid for governor of California this week, and he wasted no time floating a plan that could reshape elections far beyond the state’s borders. He told CNN’s Elex Michaelson on Saturday that he wants Californians to vote by phone, a proposal that fits neatly with the left’s push to loosen every guardrail that keeps our elections secure.
“I want to modernize the state,” Swalwell told him. “And, you know, [Newsom] wrote a book called Citizenville, which I read when I was up and coming. He laid out a lot of, you know, great ideas then, and he implemented some of them. And he, you know, was a modernizing force. He’s leaving. And so there is going to be a void. I want us to be able to vote by phone.”
“Vote by phone?” Michaelson asked, clearly surprised by the idea.
“Vote by phone, yeah,” Swalwell confirmed. “If we can do our taxes, do our, you know, our — make our health care appointments, you know, make, essentially, your — do your banking online. You should be able to vote by phone. Make it safe, make it secure. But it’s actually already happening all over the United States.”
Swalwell continued, “I want us to be a blue state that doesn’t do just a little bit better than like Georgia or Alabama when it comes to like voting access, I want us to max out democracy. Also, as it relates to democracy, if you wait in line for 30 minutes or more, if you do want to vote in person, I think you should fine every county for every minute that a person has to wait longer.”
He added, “We have to be better, not just a little bit better than the other states.”
Swalwell painted his proposal as part of a broader modernization effort, citing the DMV as another area where modernization can occur.
“I don’t think Californians should have to go in person to the DMV anymore. I think we can do that virtually. I think you can have the DMV employees do it virtually, but that’s a lot of real estate.”
No one likes waiting in line at the DMV. Still, Swalwell’s vision for voting turns one of the most critical pillars of our republic into an experiment in convenience at the expense of integrity. It’s been tried before, and the vulnerabilities are well known.
The 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus exposed the risks of relying on electronic voting apps.
Technical glitches and design flaws caused delays and widespread confusion, leaving thousands of votes uncounted or misreported on caucus night, reinforcing the argument that U.S. elections are far safer and more reliable when conducted with paper ballots and in-person verification, rather than depending on untested or insecure technology.
Similarly, MIT researchers identified serious security and privacy vulnerabilities in the mobile voting app Voatz, which was used in several U.S. elections, including the 2018 West Virginia midterms. Their analysis showed that despite claims of blockchain-based security, hackers could alter or expose individual votes.
The researchers emphasized that internet voting remains insecure, stressing the importance of paper ballots and open, auditable election systems to maintain public trust.
What happens in California rarely stays in California.
If California – a state that often serves as a launchpad for progressive policies to the national level – pulls this off, other states will soon follow.
Which means Swalwell’s plan for voting by phone could pose an existential threat to election integrity nationwide.
