Huntington Beach council adopts resolution seeking steps to ensure a legally valid, transparent 2026 election after outside group presentation

Huntington Beach City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to adopt Resolution No. 2025-64, a nonbinding measure calling for immediate steps to ensure a “legally valid and transparent” 2026 general election.

The vote followed a presentation by a volunteer group called Unite for Freedom, which presented findings from a forensic review of voter rolls and ballots, and a lengthy public-comment period in which speakers both criticized and supported the group’s methods and conclusions.

The resolution’s author, Mayor Burns, said the action was motivated by a desire to preserve public confidence in elections. “Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of representative democracy,” Burns said during council discussion, framing the resolution as aimed at strengthening voter trust rather than taking a partisan stance.

Unite for Freedom’s presenter told the council the organization’s national review of multiple states and local public-record requests showed registration and ballot-count anomalies. “In 2024, we found 39,500,000 defective registrations, 14,500,000 votes counted from ineligible voters and 2,500,000 more ballots counted than voters,” the presenter said during the slide-backed presentation, which cited a local “phantom voter” sampling for Orange County.

Several speakers during public comment urged the council to reject the group’s claims and warned that the group’s analysis and methods have been widely questioned. “The Orange County grand jury, registrar of voters and district attorney have already confirmed our elections are conducted with the highest degree of security and integrity,” one commenter said, citing the grand jury’s review.

Council discussion returned repeatedly to two themes: the need to investigate any credible irregularities and the need to avoid measures that would unintentionally suppress turnout. Councilmembers emphasized that the resolution asks for steps such as infrastructure compliance, voter verification, ballot security, and transparent audits rather than prescribing a specific voting-policy change.

The motion to adopt Resolution No. 2025-64 passed 5–0. Council members voting yes were Councilman Twining, Mayor Pro Tem McKeon, Mayor Burns, Councilwoman Gracie Vandermark and Councilman Grull.

The council did not direct new local law on ballot handling; instead the adopted resolution requests and expresses support for immediate action to strengthen existing systems and transparency ahead of the 2026 general election.