Focus on vote-counting, not bogus conspiracies

Kern County Supervisor Jeff Flores’ words were simple. But they said it all. “I’m not getting into this election denialism. I just want to improve our elections division and be the best we can.”

Before winning a hard-fought election last year for a seat on the Kern County Board of Supervisors and beginning his first four-year term in January, Flores was a longtime aide to retiring 3rd District Supervisor Mike Maggard, a solid local Republican.

Although seats on the board are nonpartisan, Flores, himself, won the election with a lot of Republican support.

So, his words of support for the county’s elections division are especially meaningful in the wake of the 2020 election, which gave voice to nationwide bogus claims that the reelection of President Trump was “stolen” by Democrats and their allegedly corrupt left-leaning elections allies.

Numerous courts have ruled the “stolen vote” challenges contained in dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump supporters were baseless. The election myths fueled rage and led to the storming of the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They have spawned accusations of wrongdoing aimed at local election officials, including those in Kern County.

The stolen election lies continued to rage during the 2022 mid-term elections, with local critics targeting Kern’s now-retired Auditor-Controller-County Clerk Mary Bedard, who oversaw elections, and her elected replacement, Aimee Espinoza.

Despite no evidence and contrary to investigative results, critics claim Kern’s use of Dominion voting machines leaves local elections open to fraud. They have contended Kern’s election officials are incompetent, untrustworthy and their vote counting is too slow.

Critics have urged supervisors to take oversight of elections away from the Kern County Auditor-Controller-County Clerk Office and create an independent elections department. It’s a move that would require the concurrence of the state Legislature.

In a December report to supervisors, Bedard responded that the criticism of Kern’s election division is based on a misunderstanding of the elections processes. Quicker vote-counting is hampered by state laws, a massive increase in the use of mail-in ballots, time-consuming security measures required to prevent fraud, and Kern’s population growth that has doubled the number of registered voters over the past three decades.

Bedard told supervisors that the county’s elections division has operated in the same office space for about 30 years and has no room to add a second sorting machine, which would speed up the vote counting.

Supervisors have asked Espinoza, the new elections chief, to return to the board on Feb. 28 with a report on how the elections division can be improved and if Kern should continue using Dominion machines. Under state law, California allows counties to use one of only three voting systems — Dominion, Hart and Elections Systems & Software. Kern has used Dominion since 2016.

“Basically, we just want to know what (the elections division) needs are and how we can help make our process quicker,” Flores said during a recent board meeting. “Is it resources? New equipment? Do they need a new sorter? Do they need a performance audit? How can we position our election division to be better?”

The goal of Espinoza’s report and the board’s review must not be to rehash tired, bogus conspiracy theories about partisans “stealing the vote.” Rather, they must be about making Kern elections the best they can be.

This will require upgrading equipment and facilities. It will require hiring experienced elections staff to replace the many veterans who have left the division.

It will require ensuring Kern voters that their votes count and every vote will be accurately counted.