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Thursday, February 29-March 06, 2024
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VOL. 12,
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State officials assure public about election security
El Monte receives $6.7M grant for electric transportation options
By Paul Anderson, City News Service
By Staff
C
alifornia Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber went on a tour with reporters of the Orange County Registrar of Voters offices to assure the public about the accuracy and security of the county's election process with primary elections coming up on March 5. With election skepticism growing as activists routinely call on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to go back to paper ballots only and precincts instead of vote centers, the election officials tried to reassure the public of all the efforts that are taken to cut down on fraud, which they say is scarce. Weber said Monday Orange County's system is much like all of the others throughout the state. "The system itself is pretty consistent," she said. She pointed to the large metal boxes used for voters to drop off ballots. "This is enormous," she said of the boxes. "If you touch it you can see how thick it is, how permanent it is. ... Sometimes you hear people talking about these boxes moving around the county, but they don't. They're steel boxes, basically drilled into the ground." When asked what message she has for skeptics who continue to doubt the system's integrity, Weber said, "There will always be those won't believe, but we also know that the results are verified over and over." Anyone who "has an issue or concern is welcome to" report them to their local registrar of the secretary of
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page oversaw the county’s election process of sorting, counting, verifying and scanning of ballots. | Photo courtesy of Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer/Facebook
state's office, she said. "We generally take that seriously," she said. "We don't just toss that off and say those things can't happen." She added, "I always find it interesting that those who don't believe in the system, but they believe they got elected. ... It was working for you, but for everyone else it was fraud or deception." For those who tout a return to hand-counting paper ballots, Weber said it is a tremendously timeconsuming task. She pointed out that hand counting averages an error rate of 25%, compared to less than 1% for machine tallying. "Hand counting is not the most accurate," Weber said. "There are some things good in the old days -- maybe some kind of bread your mother made that was really good, but there are some things
like washing your clothes and running them through a wringer that are not very attractive at all to me. So we have to make sure when we go back to the good old days that we pick the ones that are really good days versus something we have nostalgic feelings about." Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley agreed about a return to the older style of paper ballot voting. "We don't want to go back to those days," Foley said. "People voting in someone's garage may be nostalgic, but it's not as secure." Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page noted that after every election 1% of the ballots are hand counted as part of the process to audit the accuracy of the tally. "That 1% manual canvas will take one or two weeks," Page said. "It would take a lot
more people and a lot more time to potentially hand count all of the votes." Discrepancies found in hand counts usually are like someone marking a ballot with a highlighter pen that could not be picked up by the machine but could be seen by the naked eye -- but those are rare, Page said. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said he believes "fundamentally in our system" and that in Orange County, "I do believe it's working very, very well." Spitzer said most of the election fraud allegations his office fields involve something amiss in signature gathering and candidates not living in the districts in which they seek to be elected. The most common complaint involves electioneering when people campaign too close to the polls, he said. Sometimes the prosecutors get complaints about double voting, but most of the time it is accidental, Spitzer said. It usually happens with a voter in mental decline who forgot they voted by mail and then showed up to vote on election day, he said. So-called voter impersonation "is extremely rare," Spitzer said. "I can't speak for other counties but I can say that in Orange County we do not have rampant voter fraud," Spitzer said. But Spitzer warned against "making false allegations" of fraud to tarnish an opposing candidate. "If you make false allegations we'll prosecute you for that," Spitzer said.
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he City of El Monte has been awarded $6,703,420 by the California Air Resources Board to implement El Monte's Clean Mobility Nexus, a project that will provide residents with clean, affordable transportation options. "We are thrilled to receive this grant from the California Air Resources Board to fund the Clean Mobility Nexus project in El Monte," said City Manager Alma Martinez. "The grant will go a long way towards providing our community with a range of sustainable transportation options that will not only help reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also improve air quality, which is a top priority for us." In collaboration with nonprofits Active San Gabriel Valley and Mobility Development Operations, the project will facilitate the purchase of four electric buses, introducing new express and market shuttle services. The city will also install seven dual Level II EV charging stations and two fast EV charging stations will be installed across El Monte for the new buses. See Electric transportation Page 18
LA delegation secures $300M in state resources during Sacramento trip By Jose Herrera, City News Service
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ayor Karen Bass and other city officials announced Tuesday that the Los Angeles region will receive $300 million in emergency reimbursements, with $60 million directly benefiting the city for COVID-19 expenses. Bass and a delegation including five City Council members were set to conclude two days of meetings at the statehouse in Sacramento on Tuesday and return to Los Angeles later in the afternoon. According to Bass' office, during a meeting Monday with the state's Office of Emergency Services, city officials were informed that Los Angeles would receive reimbursements for COVID-19 expenses from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Other funding will be applied toward homelessness and storm relief. "We must continue to do all we can to join forces at every level of government to save lives and bring Angelenos See State resources Page 32