It is a bit different when you request an absentee ballot, vs how California just mailed it out to everyone at the last address they had for them, and no one requested it.
Each election since 2020, there are reports, to the news, from angry people, who chose to vote in person (mostly conservatives) who got to the voting place only to find that they had "already" voted. Someone had used their vote?!!!! Many were turned away, others had to vote provisional. It is a mess.
At my mail box (in our lobby by the elevator there is a bank of all resident's mailboxes) many just sat on a ledge waiting to be claimed. The postal person put them into the mailbox for the person who no longer lived at that address. The current resident just put it on the ledge to be picked up by who knows? Think about how often and how many people in California move on a yearly basis.
California sent vote by mail ballots to every active registered voter in 2020 citing Covid. A law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2021 made that a permanent practice. and he spins it as adding to Election Integrity!!!!!
Governor Newsom Signs Landmark Elections Legislation Making Vote-by-Mail Ballots Permanent for Every Registered Voter, Strengthening Elections Integrity
AB 37 makes permanent the measure to send a vote-by-mail ballot to every active registered voter The Governor also signed legislation increasing transparency and integrity in elections SACRAMENTO…
www.gov.ca.gov