S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on this episode of KPBS Midday Edition. The San Diego County Registrar of Voters , Sean K Brown , joins us with what you need to know to cast your ballot today. Then the Supreme Court rejects Trump's DOJ push to block 20,000 California ballots from being counted. Details on that. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So Election day is finally here. Voters have until 8 p.m. to cast their ballots. But this year's midterm elections have been complicated by federal lawsuits targeting California ballots and concerns over federal interference in the election. And yesterday , San Diego's registrar's office was evacuated after a suspicious package was found. The building was reopened later in the afternoon , but here , with more on how voting is going so far , is San Diego's registrar of Voters , Sean Brahm. Sean , welcome to KPBS Midday Edition.
S2: Great to be here. Thank you.
S1: Glad to have you on. So listen , yesterday afternoon , your offices were evacuated after someone noticed a suspicious suitcase left around. What can you tell us about that incident?
S2: Out of an abundance of caution , we noticed the item that was left there. And it was. It was a suitcase that was sitting there just a little bit too long. But staff was trained to identify that it was there. And we quickly assess the situation and made the determination that for the safety of the staff , voters and public , that we should evacuate and contact the local authorities. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. And and that news came as news that federal poll monitors would be deployed to local polling places today. Can you tell us about how many are expected and what they're there to do?
S2: So there are quite a few different election monitors observing the elections with regards to the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ , we are expecting a few teams out there that are going to be , we were informed , eight teams just looking at the vote centers. We have 221 locations , and they will be observing to make sure that we're complying with federal laws. That includes the voters. The Voter's Rights Act also help America Vote Act , and of course , the Americans with disabilities. We want to make sure that we are providing language accessibility and assistance in addition to physical accessibility at each of our locations.
S1: How unusual was this announcement from the DOJ?
S2: So this announcement is not unusual. It is something that does occur. We've had federal monitors in the past. They were not here in June , but on occasion they will come to our county. We are a large county and this is a common practice that happens throughout the nation. It just so happens to be that they are in San Diego County for this election.
S1: All right. Also yesterday , the US Supreme Court rejected a request by the Department of Justice to set aside thousands of California ballots. We're going to be talking more about this later in our show. But what can you tell us about these federal efforts here in San Diego County?
S2: What this allows us to do with the decision recently is continue to focus on the administration of the election. There's no segregation of our ballots. Rather , we are able to move forward and process all timely cast ballots. We want to make sure that voting is easy and accessible to voters. Currently , we have 221 locations out there for in-person voting , and people can still return their mail ballots , whether by Dropbox or by mail. It just must be postmarked by today.
S1: Do you expect more legal challenges to balance this election?
S2: It's difficult for me to predict what will happen out there , but we are able to just focus on the elections and producing those results shortly after 8 p.m. tonight.
S1: And and so that is you guys are working to get those ballots counted faster. Is that is that correct?
S2: That is correct. We put in several different. We've implemented several different changes , that is additional staffing and other equipment in order to expedite the vote counting process. I do want to highlight , though , that the certification of the election must be completed by December 3rd or before that. So we are working to make sure that the ballots are counted. Everyone that is received timely and put into those election results.
S1: So what's changed?
S2: So we have more staffing in that we're running also election night processes that we didn't run in June. So we're applying more effort and also other equipment which help us remove the ballot , referred to as extraction from the envelope. So we're able to process ballots faster because we're adding more time and labor to the process.
S1: All right. Well , I want to get to Election Day here itself. How is it going so far?
S2: So far we're seeing a great turnout. So as of noon , we've had over 20,000 people that have decided to cast their ballot in person. We're also seeing a good usage of our ballot drop box locations. We have over 150 of those throughout the county , and we're doing multiple pickups at each of those locations. Now , with the 20,000 within the first five hours , we still have eight hours to vote. And so we want people to get out there and vote early , try to avoid any long lines that may be there at night , because typically that volume increases as people tend to get off work.
S1: Does it seem like a strong turnout? This for this for these midterms?
S2: Yes , we're seeing an increased turnout , and that's both by mail and in person. Coming into today , we were about 30% higher receipt of ballots than we were in the November 2022 election. And then also when we compared the in-person voting , that has been about two and a half times more than we've seen in person before. So we're expecting a strong turnout today. But what we've really seen were people taking advantage of early voting , using their ballot , marking that their selections at the at their home and then returning it early , just having that time necessary. The election had more contest , which was a created a two card ballot. So there are more contests to vote on. But we did see an increase in early voting.
S1: Are you noticing long lines or any sense of wait times for voters today?
S2: We're not seeing long lines. It's still early where we're seeing a nice , steady Participation , but we have not seen those long lines yet. But we want people to know that they can go online to SD dotcom and look at our wait time tracker to find a vote center location near them that suits their needs.
S1: You touched on this earlier , but to be clear , do people have to have their ballots cast by eight or be in line by eight in order to vote?
S2: If the if somebody is going to vote in person , they need to be in line by 8:00 and they will be able to cast their ballot. The same is true for dropping off a mail ballot , whether it's at a ballot drop box location or at the vote center. If they are going to mail their ballot , it must be postmarked by today and received within seven days.
S1: Here's a question we received from one listener , and that is how do I vote if I lost or misplace the ballot I received in the mail?
S2: So where we are today on Election Day , we encourage that individual to visit any of our 221 vote centers there. We will. We will suspend the ballot. That means we will put a hold on the mail ballot , and that person will be able to vote there at the vote center , free of the envelope , and be able to cast a ballot directly into the ballot box.
S1: And what should people do if their ballot is damaged? Like maybe coffee spilled on it? I mean , can they still submit that ballot?
S2: They can still submit the ballot. What's important here is for our team to be able to determine the intent of the vote. We go through a process referred to as adjudication. If it's unclear what the intent was , and following the state's guidelines , we are able to give that credit for that Mark. If there is any concern , they can stop by a vote center and vote there. But otherwise we do perform a quality assurance check on every ballot that comes through so we can go through our tabulator and if needed , we will adjudicate it , marking the selection that is determined or intended by that voter?
S1: And how can voters check to see if their ballot has been counted?
S2: So you can look to see if your ballot has been received when you go to SD. Vote. You can look up your own information. We also ask people if they would like to track their ballot. They can sign up on our website with the link where's my Ballot? And you sign up through the state program that will notify you when your ballot is mailed , received and counted.
S1: What do people need to know about in-person voting? There are many vote centers across the county. Do folks have to go to the one closest to them , or can they go to any vote center?
S2: So with the Voter's Choice Act that San Diego County operates under. Voters can go to any of the 221 locations , so it may be the more convenient location which is by their work , but they do not have to go to one specific. They can go to any location and they can cast their ballot. We will have their name on the roster and they will be able to vote there.
S1: You know , earlier we touched on federal poll watchers being deployed. There's a lot of concern and anxiety in communities. How confident are you that the election will be safe for voters?
S2: I'm very confident that the election is safe and secure for voters. Our main focus is to make sure they have access free of intimidation and interference. Our poll workers are trained in de-escalation , but also in education for any voter. Any observers out there that may be interacting with voters? A lot of times it's the education to somebody observing , such as the 100 foot rule for somebody to campaign. But people should know that it is safe and secure. If there are any concerns , they can report it to our office. We have information on our website or they can call our office directly. In addition , we have a hotline number at every vote center.
S1: All right. And when will election results start coming in?
S2: So shortly after 8 p.m. , we will release the first set of unofficial election night results. Those are going to include all of the mail ballots received through Monday , and all of the in-person ballots cast at vote centers through Monday. Then , as we bring the ballots from the vote centers from across the county , those will be added to subsequent releases throughout the evening. We anticipate that could be as late as 1 a.m. or maybe even a little longer. Once that is done , we will also continue processing vote by mail ballots in the days to come. These are the ones that are picked up today from vote centers , ballot drop box locations , and also received by the United States Postal Service.
S1: And again , you mentioned that all the ballots will be counted faster , but how long will it take for them all to be officially counted?
S2: So there are several laws in place that put a limit onto the locations or the timing in which we can do this. For example , we have a 22 day mark where somebody can remedy the signature on their envelope. If somebody returned a vote by mail envelope and didn't sign it. They have up until 22 days to provide that signature in order for that ballot to count. So the the certification will occur after that date and before December 3rd.
S1: All right. And in the last 30s , any final words for voters today? Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Don't delay. Get out there and vote. Now you want to make sure that you stop by any vote center and go ahead and cast that ballot. And also , if you have that mail ballot , it's not too late to deposit it. Go ahead and mark your selections. Insert it in your return envelope. Make sure to sign and date it and drop it off at any of our ballot drop box locations.
S1: I've been speaking with San Diego Registrar of Voters , Shawn Brahm. Shawn , thank you so much for joining us today.
S2: Thank you.
S1: Still to come , the Supreme Court rejects Trump's DOJ push to block 20,000 California ballots from being counted. Details on that when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. On Monday , the Supreme Court denied the Justice Department's request to set aside thousands of voter ballots in California. The court decided against taking up the DOJ's appeal just hours after it was filed and on the eve of the midterm elections. The DOJ claims it has identified more than 20,000 likely noncitizen voters on California's voter rolls. Here in San Diego , the DOJ made similar efforts to intervene in local elections , demanding voters private information. I'm joined now by I'm joined by Jake Kincaid , who covers this story , and he's an investigative reporter for eNews source. Jake , welcome back to the show.
S3: Thanks for having me again , Jane.
S1: Glad to have you here. So what was your reaction to the Supreme Court rejecting the DOJ push to separate California voters ballots?
S3: Well , I was really surprised to see the Supreme Court respond so quickly and with just a single line , you know , presumptively unanimous decision because nobody filed a dissent. They didn't even ask California for a response. So I thought it was a , you know , a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration and the DOJ's attempts to interfere in California's election.
S1: Well , as you mentioned , there's been , you know , a lot of discussion over just how quickly the justices rejected the DOJ's request and that they did not offer a detailed explanation for that rejection. Talk more about the timing of all this and what it means.
S3: Well , yeah. A lot has been made of the timing of the Justice Department's efforts to get these 20,000 ballots set aside. I think that , you know , the Supreme Court and also the Ninth Circuit of Appeals responded very quickly and said , no , there's no feasible way to single out these ballots that potentially catastrophic effects on the entire system. Uh , you know , the Supreme Court's response , I think , shows that they at least agree with the general substance of the lower court rulings and that they're not interested in helping the Justice Department interfere in this election.
S1: And what you say kind of points to how the courts have responded to the Trump administration's case here in general. Talk about that.
S3: In general , the Justice Department has been blocked consistently by the courts. Um , you know , going back in California , Judge Carter , you know , found that this would wreak havoc on the election. And he said that they could include the judge , judge that the government's list is credible , and the Ninth Circuit agreed with that. And then also there was actually a a separate order and in other case , um , which ordered the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to stop threatening election workers because , you know , when the state of California refused to comply with this , the lawsuit started. The Justice Department didn't even wait for this to play out in court. They sent these threats to every county in California threatening , you know , the registrars and other election workers with legal consequences if they don't comply with setting aside these ballots.
S1: And to really underscore what's driving the court's response to this , you know , this past weekend , data scientist at UCLA's Voting Rights Project got access to the DOJ's list of alleged noncitizen voters. What did they find?
S3: That's right. Um , they tried to match the DOJ's list , you know , by name and birthday , and they found that 40%. 42% of these names weren't found in the in the state's current voter file. So this is just , you know , one more example in a long line of examples that suggest that this , uh , data analysis by the federal government isn't credible. And it's San Diego County , um , also checked their list of 1700 names. They did a sample of about 170 of the names , and they found that 60% had canceled registrations and 74% had no record of voting here. And , um , the Los Angeles County registrar went through a similar process and found problems with the list as well. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. I mean , the decision is another major loss for the Trump administration , particularly on election related cases. What can you tell us about that?
S3: Uh , that's right. It's been a rough week for the Justice Department. And , uh , you know , they had , um , there was similar issues when they tried to do something in Nevada. Uh , you know , election officials found that None of the people on the list were , uh , registered active voters. Um , yeah. It has not gone well for them in their attempts to to root out voter fraud. But , uh , you know , on sort of this parallel track , uh , there's no indication that this is , is stopping they're continuing to try and prosecute people for voter fraud. Um , going about it a different way. And just yesterday , Bill Sally's office announced six. They're charging six more people with voting related crimes up in L.A.. Mm.
S1: Mm. You know , we we spoke with you recently about a piece you did on the DOJ's demands for voters information here in San Diego and the registrar's response to that. Can you recap that situation and how it relates to the DOJ's efforts to intervene in elections?
S3: That's right. So to recap those from listeners , there's been there's been , you know , two parallel efforts by the DOJ. Um , you know , one that the Supreme Court shot down , which was essentially a letter just demanding that , you know , the state and the county comply with when you know what they're asking to set aside these ballots. But meanwhile , they were also sending what are called subpoenas , which are , you know , legally binding demands to provide testimony or records. So they sent these to it seems like most of the counties in in California , but in San Diego County , there was five subpoenas sent between March and September , uh , asking for voter records for about 25 voters and those the county did comply with , because that's a legally binding demand. Uh , and they did so to the extent that they're required to by law. They didn't they were asked to provide an actual ballot. They didn't provide that. Actually , the registrar told me that they can't connect the voters , you know , name to the contents of their ballot. Uh , so they didn't comply with that. So they sent those in. and that resulted in four people being charged with crimes related to voting here in San Diego County in 28 statewide. So that effort is continuing. Um , and that's what , uh , you know , all the U.S. attorneys in California were together , announced the first round of these charges. They said that , uh , this operation is going to remain in place through the election and beyond. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. What's the distinction between the Supreme Court decision and the subpoenas that have been filed?
S3: That's right. So they're totally separate. Um , you know , the Supreme Court's ruling has has no bearing , uh , on these subpoenas or on the cases that have been brought against the individuals for voting related crimes. And that's because , you know , the the lawsuit that the Supreme Court ruled on was Supreme Court ruled on what's called , like , an emergency injunction. So they were asking for , uh , the court to order and allow the government to intervene and set aside these ballots , whereas subpoenas are just requests for information. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. Has , uh I mean , you touched on this earlier with these additional charges of voting related crimes in , in LA. Um , what else are you seeing across California?
S3: Well , uh , um , three lon gentlest of county officials have to testify before a federal grand jury. So la so tomorrow. So after the election , um , so LA has continued to receive subpoenas. I confirm with the San Diego County registrar that they have not received any additional subpoenas. But in , you know , reporting on this , uh , everything that has happened in LA has flowed down and also occurred here. So I'm really keep my eye out to see if that if that's going to happen. And then also coming up on November 13th , uh , you know , even the Supreme Court ruled on part of this lawsuit with California , but it's , you know , far from over. Uh , Judge Carter's court is gonna have a hearing where they're gonna see witnesses and they're gonna , you know , look more in depth into the reliability of the government's list. So this is this is continuing. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Um , you know , we just spoke with the San Diego County Registrar of Voters , and they talked about how they're responding to election monitors in San Diego and their presence in all 50 states and the scale of that response. That's also something you're starting to look into , right?
S3: That's right. I've , I saw that the that the DOJ announced that , um , you know , they're sending election monitors not just , you know , to San Diego County , but to all 50 states , which is unusual in the scale of it. You know , they usually do have elections monitors from what I'm gathering , but not , uh , covering such a wide area. Uh , but this really doesn't seem to be something that elections experts are concerned about. I heard from , uh , you know , Dave Becker , David Becker from the center for Election Innovation Research. And , you know , he wasn't concerned about this. He's a former DOJ attorney and said things are running smoothly at polls , and there's not any signs of , uh , you know , an intimidating federal presence. And the registrar doesn't seem to be concerned about this either. They said that that's the only communication they had with the DOJ since sending their response , that they weren't going to comply with the demands of set aside ballots. And everything appears to be running smoothly so far.
S1: All right , Jake , we'll continue to follow your reporting. I've been speaking with Jake Kincade , investigative reporter for eNews source. We'll link to his reporting on our show notes at pbs.org. Jake , thanks again.
S3: Thanks for having me.
