With the Nov. 3 midterm elections just less than a week away, Los Angeles County plans to deploy about 50 Election Resource Liaisons to respond to potential disruption at vote centers, according to Mike Sanchez, the communications manager for the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office.
“We’ve spent months preparing for a wide range of scenarios, including potential disruptions at vote centers,” Sanchez said.
Voting rights advocates and legal experts are also preparing for possible disruptions. Some organizations plan to send monitors to polling places, while lawyers are ready to seek emergency court orders if federal authorities interfere with voting, according to Shelby Wayment, a staff attorney with the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law, in an interview with Annenberg Media.
The preparations come amid an ongoing legal dispute over California’s election procedures. The Justice Department had sought to have ballots from more than 20,000 California voters set aside until their citizenship could be verified, but a federal judge denied that request on Oct. 28.
Sanchez said election workers receive training in safety and incident-response procedures, and the county has established protocols to coordinate with law enforcement and public safety agencies when problems arise.
“We won’t speculate about what federal agencies may or may not do, but we are prepared to respond to situations that could interfere with voting,” Sanchez said.
“Our priority is to protect voters, support our election workers, and ensure voting continues safely and without interruption,” he added.
The county developed a contingency plan earlier this year to prepare for possible disruptions, including the potential presence of federal law enforcement agents at vote centers.
According to an April report by Dean Logan, the county’s registrar-recorder/county clerk, the county planned to deploy about 50 Election Resource Liaisons to handle potential problems at voting locations. The preparation also included de-escalation training to help election workers handle tense situations involving federal agents, protestors or election observers.
The Justice Department argues that its actions are necessary to prevent noncitizens from voting illegally. However, L.A. County has questioned the accuracy and reliability of the federal government’s list of more than 20,000 registered voters suspected of being noncitizens.
In a review of 200 sample records from the list, county officials found discrepancies. Those included registrations that were no longer active and people who appeared to have been born in the U.S.
On Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the Justice Department’s emergency appeal, ruling that the district court had not been given sufficient time to consider the government’s request.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter heard arguments Oct. 27 on the department’s request for a temporary restraining order that would prevent certain ballots from being counted until the voter’s citizenship could be verified.
On Oct. 28, Carter denied the Justice Department’s request, citing concerns that the proposed restriction could disrupt the election and disenfranchise eligible voters. The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling.
L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda L. Solis has also expressed concern about the federal government’s election-related actions. In an Oct. 19 statement, she urged residents to vote early and emphasized the importance of voting without intimidation.
“The federal government’s continued attempts to deter voting and instill fear is an affront to our democracy,” Solis said. “Los Angeles County voters should be able to cast their ballots without interruption, interference, or intimidation from the federal government.”
Wayment said one of her biggest concerns is the possibility of federal authorities seizing ballots or election materials.
“I think ballot seizure is the federal interference that I’m the most worried about,” Wayment said. “I think that could have a very big disruptive effect.”
She also warned that confusion over delayed ballot counting could fuel misinformation after election day, emphasizing that delays in California’s vote-counting process do not necessarily indicate fraud.