Federal officials gear up for Election Day in Sacramento area, but not at polling sites
With tensions running high nationwide as Election Day approaches, Sacramento-area officials say they are prepared for any problems that may crop up at election centers, but that voters shouldn’t expect to see law enforcement out at voting locations.
The only location where law enforcement officials will be visible is the Sacramento County elections office on 65th Street, where sheriff’s deputies will be stationed all day on Tuesday to deal with crowds of expected voters and to ensure the safety of ballots that will be counted in a secure room there after voting ends.
“They’re there for a variety of reasons, not just about ballots but crowd control,” county spokeswoman Janna Haynes said. “We do get large crowds at our elections office. We have people that will drop off their ballots there.
“Obviously, our elections office is the only office after hours that has activity going on, so we prefer to be safe and have law enforcement there.”
The actual ballot counting takes place in the tabulation room, she said, which “is a very secure, sequestered room.”
“There is a viewing window, but access to that room is extremely limited,” she said. “We do have law enforcement stationed, and the majority of our staff cannot access that room.”
Haynes said that has been the situation in past elections and that officials at the county’s 18 vote centers open so far have experienced only one problem to date.
Minor incident with Trump supporter
“The disruption occurred over the weekend at our Vote Center at the Greater Sacramento Urban League,” she wrote in an email to The Sacramento Bee. “The individual, who did come to vote in person, was wearing a Trump hat and T-shirt.
“Per election code, candidate gear is not allowed inside or within 100 feet of a vote center. When our election staff alerted the person that they needed to remove the gear to come in and vote, he immediately became combative.
“He also pulled out his phone and began a livestream on Facebook. They showed him election code prohibiting his behavior. Our staff did call 911 at that time. Ultimately, the voter removed his hat, turned his shirt inside out and was admitted to cast his ballot and was gone before law enforcement arrived.”
An additional 66 vote centers will open Saturday and the county registrar of voters has given sheriff and police a list of all 84 vote centers in the county.
Vote center supervisors also have been given phone numbers to call law enforcement, but there will be no guards, police or sheriff at vote centers — no one with a badge, uniform or gun — because even a law enforcement officer on site could be construed by some people as voter intimidation.
Election officials warn of the potential for long lines at some polling sites and even the possibility of altercations over wearing masks and social distancing.
Volunteers ready to quell incidents
Sacramento County Registrar of Voters Courtney Bailey-Kanelos said polling site volunteers are being trained on how to handle inappropriate behavior, including people who attempt to intimidate others.
“Any confrontational or aggressive behavior, they will be asked to leave, period,” she said. “If they refuse, we will call the sheriff or police. We’ve done this before. The sheriff was out there in a matter of minutes.”
“We have met with the county sheriff and given them a list of voting locations.”
Mask-wearing rules will be a more delicate situation.
California’s Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, said people are required to wear masks at voting centers to protect against coronavirus spread.
But state and local officials say they believe the right to vote supersedes the requirement to wear a mask, so they will make accommodations. If someone refuses to wear a mask, vote center workers are instructed to ask that person to wait away from others until a voting booth is made ready for them at a safe distance from other voting booths.
In other words, if you refuse to wear a mask, you still will be allowed to vote.
All electioneering, campaigning, or yelling, has to be done 100-plus feet away from the vote center entrance.
Feds closely monitoring for issues
Federal officials also will be on alert for possible problems, and U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott has named two veteran prosecutors to handle any issues that are reported.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Khasigian has been named as the District Election Officer to handle complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses at voting sites within the Eastern District of California, which stretches from Bakersfield to the Oregon state line.
Khasigian will be on duty while the polls are open, and can be reached by the public at 916-554-2700 or 916-554-2723.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Hemesath has been named to a new post as the National Security Cyber Specialist for the district and will respond to any possible digital election threats, Scott said. For instance, suspicious online or social media posts that may be from foreign entities can be reported to the phone numbers above or to the FBI.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure this is a safe election and people should not be afraid or intimidated in the exercise of their constitutional right to vote,” Scott said in an interview. “Attempts to intimidate have no place in our election.”
Scott said lawyers from his office will join FBI agents at a command post set up to accept allegations of election fraud or other problems, and members of the public can report issues 916-746-7000 or at tips.fbi.gov.
Scott’s office noted that federal law makes it a crime to harass or bribe voters.
“For example, actions of persons designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them, or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law,” his office said.
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Federal officials gear up for Election Day in Sacramento area, but not at polling sites."