Despite foreign bots constantly scanning the Orange County election servers “looking for a way in,” voters can be assured its election system is secure, Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley told the Seal Beach Republican Women Federated on Thursday.
Coming on the heels of one of the most volatile campaign seasons in recent memory, Kelley said his office was prepared for the Nov. 3 vote.
Speaking to a luncheon of Republican women from Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Cypress and other local areas, Kelley discussed the many ways voting systems are protected while confirming bad actors scan their computers almost every minute of every day.
“We can see the incoming data,” said Kelley, noting that digital “bots” from China, Russia, North Korea, Ukraine and others are always looking for a “hole,” or entry point to enter state or county voting records.
“Our office interfaces with the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement,” said Kelley, who noted he was one of 30 Registrars serving on a DHS election security task force.
Ballot security was only one of the many hot-button voting issues covered by Kelly during his address to a packed house.
Kelley, who has served as Registrar of Voters for Orange County since 2006, manages the fifth largest voting jurisdiction in the USA. His office serves more than 1.6 million registered voters.
“California election laws are much more liberal than other states,” noted Kelly, explaining how his office must follow laws and rules set by the state legislature.
For instance, new voter registration laws simply require a “perceptible address,” for registration, noting that a homeless person could register as living “under the 405 Freeway near any cross street” and still be registered to vote.
Most homeless voters who register simply list the mailing address of a nearby shelter to be registered to vote.
Regarding ballot harvesting, while Kelley said it is a potentially a “big problem,” his office can only interpret the laws as passed by the state.
Kelly gave the Republicans an example. For instance, he said, there is a place on each ballot for the person assisting the voter to sign. In the past, said Kelley, a person had to have some family “relationship” with the voter in order to assist them.
Recent changes, however, allow “anyone” to assist others in casting a ballot, and while they are encouraged to sign it, the law specifically prevents Registrars from rejecting unsigned ballots. “So many are unsigned,” he said, “and there is little I can do to trace them.”
Despite the obstacles, Kelley said his office has deployed much technology to ensure an efficient and safe vote count. His office utilizes “third-party tracking” as much as possible, even though there is no interconnected database of voters across the country that can be used to track voters.
When suspicious activity is found, however, Kelley said his office refers cases to the Orange County District Attorney.
He said even OC ballot boxes employ significant technology embedded in them. Kelley said every time they are opened, they automatically snap a photo and automatically upload it to the OC Registrar’s computer system.
Also, he said the OC ballot boxes are unique in that they have elevated floors just in case liquids or moisture somehow in or near the boxes, the ballots are protected.
Asked about the recent Republican Party ballot box controversy, Kelley said simply his office handled only county concerns and that subpoenas were issued at the state level.
In addition, Orange County is the only county where ballots are collected daily, said Kelley,
acknowledging county voters are thus far setting early records.
As of Oct. 22, “I can tell you that volume from OC ballot boxes is almost on par with mail-in ballots,” he said.
When questioned about accepting ballots after the election, Kelley said law mandates that his office accept ballots as late as Nov. 28, so long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3. Therefore, Kelley said don’t look for the Nov. 3 election to be certified until then.
Despite all the controversy, Kelley assured Orange County voters they could feel safe while voting in person and their ballots would be secure.
“When you vote in person, you will feel safe,” Kelly told the audience, noting the number of precautions his office has employed to keep voters and their ballots out of harm’s way.
And, while popup vote sites are now open, Kelley said a total of 170 in-person county voting sites will open Oct. 30 and remain open through Nov. 3, including one at Leisure World. He said the Honda Center site will utilize nearly 500,000 square feet, while the average site is a mere 1,800 square feet.
“We are ready,” he said.