Preparations for election security have taken on heightened importance this year amid rising political tensions.
President Donald Trump has tried in several ways to assert federal control over the voting process that constitutionally is the realm of the states and Congress, but largely has been blocked in court.
The administration says these efforts are aimed at ensuring the accuracy and legitimacy of the elections. Critics maintain Trump is trying to rig the midterm elections for Republicans in a year where virtually all indicators suggest Democrats have a growing advantage.
Regardless, Trump has continued his evidence-free claim that massive voting fraud has taken place in past elections and will again if he doesn’t step in.
He has expressed regrets that he didn’t have some voting machines seized after the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden. He mused earlier this year that this election should be canceled, but soon changed his tune after blowback. His more recent exhortation that his followers should “cheat like hell” was dismissed as joking by the White House.
But many elections officials, prosecutors and elected officials aren’t laughing — and not all of them are Democrats.
The response has been two-fold. Increasingly, voters are being reassured that these elections will unfold normally, as they have in the past. At the same time, plans are being drawn up to address potential unprecedented election intrusion by federal investigators and litigators — and even immigration agents and military personnel.
“There’s a lot that’s the same,” San Diego County Registrar of Voters Shawn Brom said in an interview about election security preparations. “Nothing is changing.”
He noted court actions, particularly the Supreme Court ruling blocking Trump’s proposed limits to voting by mail. Others have also pointed out that some of the president’s election-related executive orders and Justice Department lawsuits seeking state voter rolls have been rejected in court.
Brom said the settling of the legal disputes “allows us to go back to the normal process we’re familiar with.”
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, has been outspoken throughout the year warning of potential Trump meddling in the elections. In September, he struck a more reassuring tone, even as he emphasized — as he has all year — that Trump will continue to try to sow doubt about election results that don’t go his way.
“The bottom line for voters in California right now is nothing has changed. We’ve had safe and secure elections, and we will continue to do so,” Padilla said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his Democratic counterparts across the country have been gaming out scenarios of possible federal intervention in the election and devising responses to them.
“We think it’s limitless what he will try and what he is capable of,” Bonta said of Trump. “So, if you can imagine it, we have thought of it and we have a plan.”
Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson, said that Democrats are conjuring up irrational concerns that are undermining efforts to improve election security, according to Votebeat, a news organization focused on elections and voting.
“The only ‘fears’ Americans have about our elections are being fueled by extreme liberal Democrats who refuse to support commonsense legislation that ensures Americans, and Americans only, decide our elections,” Bis said.
It’s far from certain what, if any, action the Trump administration may take. The scenarios Democrats are discussing include increased and more aggressive federal election monitors, immigration officers at polling places and seizure of ballots and election machinery, among other things.
Amid Trump’s fraud claims, grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department seeking voter information have been received by election offices across the country, including the San Diego County Registrar of Voters office, according to inewsource.
While California state and local law enforcement have been involved in election planning — as they always are — Bonta said the responses to federal action would be on the legal front and would avoid physical confrontation.
Lawsuits and petitions for restraining orders are being drafted in advance with places for certain information such as plaintiff, defendant and jurisdiction left blank, to be filled out in real-time in order to respond immediately to situations that may arise.
However, election officials have been advised to comply with legitimate subpoenas and judicial search warrants, and let the courts determine the outcome.
Brom, the San Diego registrar, noted there have been multi-level discussions about the difference between judicial and administrative warrants issued by agencies, the latter of which can be rejected by the target under some circumstances.
As they have in the past, San Diego officials have been in regular contact with the California Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections, and participate in local meetings that include representatives of the Sheriff’s Department, FBI and other local governments in the region.
Brom said the local election security task force has conducted “tabletop exercises” walking through how to handle various emergencies, which can include more typical disruptions such as bomb threats, power outages and severe weather.
Trump recently promised a more expansive network of Republican Party and federal monitors this year. Brom said there have been election voting poll observers in the past and added that federal representatives have been reminded about “what’s allowed and what’s not permissible” at polling places.
The Secretary of State’s Office emphasizes that California law limits law enforcement activity near or at voting locations, and that federal law prohibits the deployment of troops or armed persons to a polling place.
Additionally, federal law prohibits armed forces from interfering with an election through intimidation, threats, or by force, according to the office.
A statewide reporting system has been created to allow local authorities to immediately report incidents of voter intimidation, disruption, or unauthorized challenges.
In an interview, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said she wanted to avoid any “hypothetical scenario” and, like Brom, described the planning as similar to what has happened in past elections.
“We have no reliable information in San Diego that ICE or anybody is going to be interfering with polling places,” Stephan said.
She added that it’s important to “reassure the registrar of voters and our people… that there shouldn’t be any surprises.”
She said that vigilance in preparing for an election has always been a priority and action will be taken if necessary. “We want to be prepared for anything,” she said.
“Whatever the law allows us to do, we will do,” Stephan added, “. . . no matter who the illegal actor is.”
What they said
Daniel Dale (@ddale8), CNN fact-checker, in a Thursday post
“The Trump administration appears to have changed its AI chatbot so that it no longer debunks Trump lies.
“Yesterday: It said Biden won the 2020 election and there’s no indication of widespread fraud.
“Today: Says it can’t answer such questions.”