Election and law enforcement officials brace for Nov. 5 as early voter L.A. turnout is slow so far

Fewer Los Angeles County voters are turning in early ballots compared to the last presidential race, but officials said Tuesday that given the heated national election they are stepping up security measures to prevent voter tampering or intimidation.

There have been “no credible threats here in Los Angeles County to polling locations or polling workers” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

Law enforcement is monitoring the elections process, he said, and has been in communications with federal officials.

Ballot boxes were burned in Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash., on Monday. And in other parts of the country, law enforcement is setting up near polling stations and officials are installing panic buttons, among other measures to protect poll workers and ballots.

“There’s a narrative around the country about the security of the elections process, and we want to be sure that voters have the confidence that we have a process that’s going to protect both them, our staff and also their ballots in this process,” said Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan.

There are 427 ballot boxes where residents can return mail-in ballots.

“The boxes we use here in L.A. County are designed to suppress fire,” Logan said. The ballots are nearly airtight and testing by fire officials “showed that anything flammable should extinguish very quickly,” he said. “Really, the bigger concern on our end would be the damage to ballots in responding to an incident,” such as water damage.

Sheriff’s officials have been regularly meeting with local, state and federal agencies and briefing the registrar on local and national developments. Local police agencies have been training in case of civil disturbances and the sheriff is planning to make specialized units ready on election day.

“I want people to feel secure that they can go to any voting location and not be intimidated or fearful that anything may happen,” Luna said. “If there’s something there, call us immediately. We’re going to have extra people out there, and we will respond.”

There are no plans, at this time, to place officers at polls.

More than 3 million votes are expected to be cast in Los Angeles County, then verified and counted at a sprawling ballot processing center in City of Industry at the site of a former Fry’s Electronics store. Election officials gave media a tour of the facility Tuesday, emphasizing the protocols and urging those who can to vote early.

“If you’re able to and you’re ready to cast your vote, we really encourage voters to vote early,” Logan said. Under state law, the final count cannot be certified until Dec. 3, but he said that most “definitive results” should be available two weeks after the final vote.

The tally will begin on election day in a glass-encased room when polls close. But preparations are underway. There are about 800 workers at the center, who have been logging mail-in ballots and verifying signatures in anticipation of the big day. Rows of workers inspect the envelopes for any damage or oddities before they wind their way through a multistep process that includes a ballot count, a signature check and removing the ballot from the envelope. The paper mail-in ballots then go through a tally machine that scans them. The votes are not counted until 8 p.m. Nov. 5.

“Once that ballot is in the registrar’s hands of our election staff, it’s transparent,” said Mimi Kennedy, who sat on the advisory committee of Voting Solutions for All People, a group developed by the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in 2009 to make the transition to new machines. She said that she is confident in the county’s ability to get the election right.

There will be about 9,000 people working at polls in the community Nov. 5. Sheriff’s officials will haul in ballot boxes from the polls via helicopter and patrol cars to a heavily surveilled warehouse-like processing center, with K-9 units sniffing for explosives or other threats.

“Our parking lot actually becomes a helipad, and it’s quite a scene here on election night,” Logan said.

As of Tuesday, about 900,000 ballots had been cast. Assistant Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Monica Flores estimates the rate is about 30% to 40% of that in the previous presidential election when the pandemic brought record numbers of voters out early.

“It could be low turnout in general. It could be that more people will be voting in person, and or it could be that folks are just waiting to vote later on in the election period, waiting to vote on election day,” she said.

There are 122 early-voting center locations that have been opened since Saturday. And as of Monday night, 47,000 residents had voted in person.

On Saturday, an additional 526 locations will be open, for a total of 644 voting centers open countywide through the end of the election period. Any voter in L.A. county can go to any one of those locations.