The report found that 226,250 mail ballots were rejected for various reasons, while election officials failed to account for millions more.

The 2022 midterms marked the first election held since the California Legislature passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 37, which required automatically mailing ballots to all active registered voters in the nation's most populous state. 

"As states across our country continue to enact undemocratic voter suppression laws, California is increasing voter access, expanding voting options and bolstering elections integrity and transparency," Newsom said after signing the bill in September 2021.

That clearly hasn't been the result of the law, said J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, on Wednesday.