Kern County offers clarity on 2022 election

Dec. 14—As the end of her tenure approaches, Kern County Registrar of Voters and County Clerk Mary Bedard submitted her analysis on Tuesday morning of the 2022 midterm election to the Board of Supervisors, along with a presentation that explained the tumultuous past month from her office's perspective.

Her presentation was a sobering, data-driven report that admitted its missteps and explained its limitations, and concluded that despite earlier reports, her office completed its mission on time and in similar efficiency as Kern's neighboring counties.

For example, on Nov. 21, which was 13 days after the election, Kern County, along with San Bernardino and Fresno counties, all reached 97 percent of votes counted. Meanwhile, Ventura was at 87 percent, San Luis Obispo was at 83 percent and Sacramento, 72.

"While this is not a contest to see who can finish first, differences in resources, staffing and equipment can impact the speed of counting," Bedard said. "However, the main reason for the time it takes to complete the count are the laws and regulations in place in California."

California's pandemic-inspired shift toward mailing ballots to every registered voter became a permanent fixture in the state's election process with the passage of Assembly Bill 37 in 2021. And according to Bedard, this played a major part in how votes were counted.

According to Kern elections, midterm turnout was 190,705 voters, or 44 percent of the registered base. Approximately 169,000 ballots, or 88 percent of those cast, were received by mail.

"With approximately 90 percent of voters voting by mail, which do take much longer to process and count than a poll place ballot, the time it takes to report results does take longer," Bedard said.

Even in comparison to the June primary, the number of ballots dropped off at drop boxes nearly doubled. Bedard, in her presentation, provided data that showed how an influx of mail-in ballots was the primary bottleneck that slowed counting.

Unlike ballots cast in person at a polling place, vote-by-mail ballots must be run through the sorter machine three times to be properly vetted. Each is checked for any sign of alteration before they reach the tabulator for counting.

"While this may seem like a simple process, remember that they are having to do this over 169,000 times," Bedard said.

Another difficulty that Bedard pointed out was the sheer number of measures on the ballot — 17 in total across the county.

"Far more than in the past," Bedard said. "In fact, that is four to five times the number of measures on the ballot in recent years."

Asked by First District Supervisor Phillip Peters about the chief limitations county elections officials faced, Bedard said it was a cocktail of space and staffing.

"Our biggest drawback right now is simply space," Bedard said. "We do have some state grant funds available — it does require a county match — but there are funds available so we could get additional equipment but as I said our biggest problem at this point is space ... We've always been short on staffing, and it is a difficult job. It's hard to keep people in that job — it's stressful during the election season."

The elections office has operated in the same space for roughly 30 years, when the county had about half the number of registered voters, few absentee ballots, and punch cards were the staple voting medium. The sorting machine, Bedard explained, is massive, and the space allotted does not allow for a second one.

"It costs over half a million dollars and takes up approximately 20 to 25 percent of the available space for vote-by-mail processing," Bedard said.

In tandem with the comments of public speakers and supervisors, Bedard said that state guidelines regarding cured ballots force complications.

"The amount of time it takes to process ballots and update results is largely a function of the rules in place in California for ensuring the security and integrity of the election," Bedard said.

Ballot estimates

Of the five supervisors, Peters gave the longest line of questioning. He brought up a complaint frequently expressed in past meetings: the discrepancy between estimates of unprocessed ballots and processed.

"I saw one time there was 38,174 (ballots), which seems like a pretty precise estimate of ballots, and then over 45,000, which is a significant number higher than that, were processed," Peters said. "I feel like that does a disservice to elections by creating concern in the public that I think is justifiable."

The count method, Bedard explained, is a combination of the confirmed number of signatures they already have with their rounded estimate, which is usually figured by the number of standard ballot trays they have, which gave what people seemed to believe to be an exact number.

"We were getting many cured letters during that time and once those ballots were confirmed and deemed a match then they got added to the original estimated amount," Bedard said.

Bedard added that it is not uncommon to be off on the estimates, giving examples such as Fresno County, and Alameda County, which was off at one time by more than 100,000 ballots.

"Orange County estimated their remaining ballots at 404,593 when it was actually 383,167, a difference of over 21,000 ballots," Bedard said.

Fourth District Supervisor David Couch recommended that in the future elections staff round to the nearest 100 or 1,000, so as not to confuse people.

"In my opinion, the information you're giving to the public — we have to view it as how they are going to perceive it," Couch said. "And when it's right down to a number like 174, they think that you know exactly how many are left."

Peters also asked about the sorting machine, which reportedly broke down at one point, to the ire of several citizens. When he asked what the county could do better to avoid this in the future, Bedard said they don't have the space for another one, yet there are systems in place to get the parts fairly easily, and that the breakdown didn't play a significant role.

"I think this concern that it could've been much worse is ignoring the fact that there are other processes in place to get the critical parts in a short time period," Bedard said. "It did not take long to get the part."

Bedard added that a Nov. 16 CNN report that their one voting machine was down was false.

"We operate with eight tabulators," Bedard said.

In an area with tight elections, any misstep by Bedard's office has aroused public suspicion of voter fraud. The line of questioning from supervisors and subsequent complaints raised by residents suggested significant misunderstandings of how ballots are counted and certified.

Residents take aim

Some residents present at the meeting took aim at Bedard and her office, demanding further investigation of potential wrongdoing, despite little evidence to support it.

"I've spent hundreds of hours observing," said resident Leilani Tedeschi. "They have plenty of space. What they need is leadership, competence and management."

Residents asked for audits and investigation; claimed voter disenfranchisement; forewarned of a reliance on Chinese voting machines; demanded an explanation of cured ballots; and called for the county clerk position to be decoupled from the registrar of voters. One resident suggested that the county return to in-person voting by individual precincts, all 762 of them.

"For some reason we have to use these Dominion machines, and they're all manufactured in China," said resident Ron Barcher. "We're allowing our enemy to run our election — does that make any sense?"

The only local race with potential for recount is the tight California 16th Senate District race, which ended on Saturday with the swearing-in of Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Bakersfield, who won by 20 votes.

Recounts aren't automatic in California; the county or the person who requests the recount must pay for it. David Shepard, Hurtado's opponent, released a statement Saturday saying that his team is watching closely to see whether it will request one.

While her office concluded the 20-vote difference would not be affected by the newly reported 10 unprocessed ballots, Bedard said her office petitioned to have the votes included in the total sum.

"All contests were decided by margins greater than the amount of unprocessed ballots," Bedard said.

No elected official present signaled or even hinted toward voter fraud or a need to recount. Some made a point to thank Bedard for her handling of the counting process, something each characterized as laborious and stress-inducive, given its proximity to an increasingly polarized political landscape.

Several supervisors made the connection that unfortunately this reflects today's politics, and the diminishing confidence voters have in the accuracy and legitimacy of the election process.

"I've never questioned that about you Ms. Bedard and I do not question it now," said Supervisor Mike Maggard.

And as the registrar of voters, Bedard has been an easy target for the past month, the target of ire and frustrations in past meetings by residents who claimed the election counting process was ineffective and worthy of an audit or further investigation.

Standard procedure

Against the backdrop of concerns raised, Bedard assured the public that her office followed standard procedure by releasing election results biweekly.

Carol Bender, who submitted a Dec. 2 email to the board, criticized both residents and media reports for generating divisiveness, and purported concern whether people are properly educated on the election process. She, along with a couple of others, thanked Bedard for her work.

"This morning in the paper we have '10 missing ballots show up' just to create more conspiracy theory thinking around the elections, which is just very divisive," Bender said. "Why are so many people uneducated about how to fill out a ballot — maybe we need some education on that as well."

Bender suggested the county prioritize hiring more election staff.

"We need a heck of a lot more people to man the election office," Bender said. "One person told me it was 24 hours a day and they were really burned out. Appreciate the honesty."

In her presentation, Bedard encouraged the public to visit the Kern Elections website to watch videos that explain several of their services, including the vote-by-mail process.

"It not only answers questions, but also shows how the equipment operates," she said.

Supervisors postponed any further decisions regarding elections, including the funding of Dominion voting machines, until late January, once incoming Registrar of Voters Amy Espinoza is in her position and able to review further measures.

Espinoza will replace the retiring Bedard on Jan. 2.