Orange County DA’s Office Maintains Security Vigilance on Election Day

Security personnel watch a man pass through a metal detector as he prepares to enter a temporary voting center set up inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Nov. 2, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office and local law enforcement agencies have been working on Election Day to protect the sanctity of voting without fraud or intimidation.

The DA’s Office has assembled a dedicated team of prosecutors and investigators who are trained in election law violations, including fraud, to address any concerns about voting safety and to help reduce any issues that occur.

The team includes 13 attorneys from the DA’s Special Prosecutions division who are specifically trained on protocols and procedures for election issue response, as well as 25 DA Investigators, one analyst, and one DA Investigative Aide, according to a Nov. 2 press release.

The DA’s team has been in direct contact with the Orange County Registrar of Voters, and the DA’s Mobile Command Post has been stationed at the registrar’s office in Santa Ana on Election Day to quickly address any issues that arise, according to the statement.

“Your vote is your voice,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer in the release. “The power of one vote should not be underestimated.”

Spitzer said it is the responsibility of prosecutors to ensure that every vote and every voice counts.

“We have taken every step to safeguard this election and provide Orange County residents with the peace of mind that their voice will be heard when they cast their ballot—whether it is by mail, at a ballot box, or by voting in person,” he stated.

“Anyone who chooses to violate any section of the election code in Orange County and interfere with the sanctity of the election will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Kimberly Edds, the DA’s public information officer, told The Epoch Times that the DA’s Office “always wants to protect the sanctity of the vote.”

“Any issue related to voter intimidation or preventing someone from exercising their right to vote is a concern for us,” said Edds. “It’s important that the public understands that we’ve taken every step possible to ensure that the election is going to be safeguarded.”

She said the DA’s Office had already received “multiple complaints through our hotline and our election fraud email” about election security.

“And every single complaint is being reviewed and investigated by one of our district attorney investigators.”

Baha Eldin, a public affairs specialist for the DA’s office, told The Epoch Times that the Mobile Command Post will be stationed at the Registrar of Voters, but said there won’t necessarily be a uniformed security presence at the location.

“Investigators are just going to be in plain clothes,” Eldin said. “It kind of ties into the whole voter intimidation and so forth. They don’t want there to be a police presence, and it’s just going to be more like investigators in suits.”

The Mobile Command Post gives investigators the opportunity to have access to all of their equipment—similar to an office on wheels—so that they can respond quickly to any other voting centers if an election law violation occurs, according to Eldin.

Other agencies—including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the California Secretary of State, the California Attorney General, and the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center—will be working alongside the DA’s Office to protect citizens’ rights to vote.

Any residents who suspect election violations or fraud are encouraged to call the Orange County DA’s Election Fraud Hotline at 714-501-4593 or report the incident by email to [email protected].