SANTA ANA — Sure, there was that pro-Trump rally outside the Orange County Registrar of Voters back in 2020, led by the former police chief-turned-yoga instructor who whipped up hundreds of “patriots” with cries of “stolen election!”
But while election workers have received death and lynching threats in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and elsewhere, things have never gotten really ugly here in the O.C. Even the rally organizer back then — Alan Hostetter, former La Habra police chief who took a hatchet into the Capitol on Jan. 6, wished death upon “tyrants and traitors,” and was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison — made it clear that he was not challenging Orange County’s count. Just, like, everyone else’s.
“Our job has changed,” said Bob Page, O.C.’s registrar of voters, as primary day bustle kicked in March 5. “It’s much more incumbent upon us to be communicators outside the office, to be fully transparent, to answer all the questions. Since 2020, we’re seeing more and more questions.”
And more and more changes.
Transparency
There were but a handful of outside observers keeping eagle eyes on the painstaking process that unfolds in O.C.’s enormous election central headquarters on South Grand Avenue on Tuesday — but that’s still more than there used to be.
Once, those observers could hover over the shoulders (and breathe down the necks) of election workers, say, duplicating damaged ballots (so those ballots could be read by scanners and counted in this great exercise we call democracy).
Since COVID, though, that’s a no-no. Workers are roped off so bodies can’t press in close — but cameras are fixed on their hands, projecting every twitch to giant TV monitors. This allows a much crisper and more detailed view as damaged originals and duplicates are placed side by side and scrutinized to ensure they’re identical.
“The bottom line is, we want to make sure every vote counts,” Page said.
For this…
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