County vouches for poll security
Amid fears of fraud and thuggery, officials seek to reassure South Bay voters
SAN JOSE — With an uneasy national atmosphere of mistrust amid talk of fraud and thuggery at the polls, Santa Clara County officials sought Wednesday to reassure South Bay voters that they intend to keep the vote fair and free of fear.
County Executive Jeff Smith said he doesn’t “think there are many people, if any, in Santa Clara County who are buying into the rhetoric of a rigged election,” an accusation that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been blasting to supporters.
“Help Me Stop Crooked Hillary From Rigging This Election!” states a page on the official Trump website that requests supporters become official poll watchers. And at rallies since August, he has urged followers to “go to your place and vote, and then go pick some other place, and go sit there with your friends and make sure it’s on the up and up.”
While Smith said he doesn’t know of any kind of voter intimidation plans from either the left or the right, Santa Clara County Board President Dave Cortese said they’re prepared — tensions can escalate quickly, as was seen when a San Jose Trump rally attracted hostile protesters who attacked some attendees as they left the convention center June 2. It led to more than 20 arrests and an ongoing lawsuit against the city alleging negligence.
“They should have anticipated that there might be problems at a Trump rally,” Cortese
said, adding that the county doesn’t expect problems but is “anticipating that possibility to head off any adverse activity.”
“We know human nature, and with the two major party candidates it’s an understatement to say it’s a volatile election.”
Cortese said voters who feel they are being intimidated at the polls shouldn’t be confrontational but rather report the incident to the county Registrar of Voters — or call 911 if necessary.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla released a statement Wednesday calling Trump’s accusations of election rigging “irresponsible and alarmist.”
“We will not play into the narrative of any candidate who seeks to suppress the vote by undermining the public’s confidence in free and fair elections,” Padilla said. “I have great faith in our county elections officials and the thousands of poll workers who volunteer to assist voters in their community.”
Antonio Amador, of Lodi, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said it’s great that the county is making assurances about voter fraud but “whether they can guarantee it, that’s another thing.”
“People have done shenanigans in the past, what’s to prevent it from happening again?” he asked. “Just an assurance? Is that enough?”
He added that media stories anticipating bullying from Trump supporters acting as poll observers isn’t fair.
“There are people who are poll watchers and when they do it, it’s their right,” he said. “If Republicans do it, now it’s alarmist and vigilantism. You can always accuse the other side of whatever you want.”
Jim Irizarry, San Mateo County’s chief elections officer, said they’re not expecting any problems but are “prepared for anything” on Election Day. He said they’ve had people do what’s called “electioneering” in the past but in a low-key manner, such as wearing a political T-shirt or button within 100 feet of a polling place. That’s a nono, and people have been asked to put down signs, remove buttons and turn shirts inside out.
“Those are far and away the biggest infractions,” Irizarry said. “But if they were to threaten a person, use violence or coercion to induce a person to vote a certain way or refrain from voting, that’s a felony.”
Jonathan Stein, of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus said they are working in 18 counties across Northern California and the Central Valley with tandem teams of volunteers and lawyers to monitor polling sites.
He said that historically the group has focused on making sure Asian-American voters have translated materials, but “this year, in response to the rhetoric at the presidential level, we are expanding.”
“We’re in the Central Valley for the first time, in Spanish-speaking communities for the first time,” he said. “We are worried about vigilante poll observers going to check out voters who don’t look like them or sound American. We are training to be prepared for all circumstances.”
Dean C. Logan, registrar of voters for Los Angeles County and president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said Trump’s statements have been noticed even if California isn’t one of the states the candidate is telling supporters to target because “everybody is hearing about this.”
“There’s this national effort by various campaigns, whether it’s Trump to get poll monitors or civil rights groups campaigning to get people to monitor the poll monitors, that’s what people are seeing in the media,” he said. “What we don’t want to happen is people to be discouraged from voting. We want to send a message that the best response is a high level of participation, and remind people that Election Day belongs to the voters.”
Santa Clara County Registrar Shannon Bushey said at a Wednesday news conference that the public is welcome to visit the elections office to see what’s going on.
“Come to our office before the election, on election night or after the election,” she said. “They can watch all the processes.”