(UCLA Ackerman Union, March 3, 2020. Students wait 2–3 hours to vote.)
LA County Supervisors: My Letter Urging Return to Paper Ballots
Dear County Supervisors Hahn, Kuehl, Solis, Ridley-Thomas and Barger:
Thank you for your anticipated investigation into the multiple challenges on Super Tuesday, with voters waiting 2–4 hours, some even longer, to vote and massive provisionals distributed, even to a student who showed proof of registration. I am attaching relevant photos of stacks of provisionals,
long lines and crowds of UCLA voters (3/2 & 3/3)
and a video interview with Long Hoang (04hoang.long@gmail.com), a UCLA student who was given a provisional, even though he showed proof of registration (also attached a photo of an email on his phone proving registration, as well as his provisional receipt instructing him to check back “no sooner than 30 days after the election” to see if his vote counted).
I ask you to please conduct an investigation that examines a myriad of reported problems including but not limited to: a) understaffing of poll workers b) malfunctioning equipment, including touch screens that flipped votes, machines with paper jams, dysfunctional E-Poll books c) lack of synchronization between E-poll books and the county voter registration database and/or the SOS database d) confusion among poll workers as to who needed to cast a provisional ballot.
I volunteered alongside the RR’s office to promote youth voter turn out by establishing voter centers on almost all public college campuses in LA County. To their credit, the RR’s staff worked hard to secure contracts with our colleges. Unfortunately, however, I fear many of the students may have been disenfranchised due to long lines and massive distribution of provisionals still to be evaluated.
I was at UCLA’s Ackerman Union on March 2nd & 3rd, where I observed students leaving the voter center without voting because they had to go to class or work and could not wait in a 2–3 hour line. I notified the RR’s office and they sent additional routers and poll workers for Super Tuesday, but the problems and long lines persisted.
The LA Times reported Friday, March 6, 2020, there are still 675,000 ballots to be counted in LA County, and one election protection observer reports there are at least 26,000 provisionals, 50,000 conditional and 170,000 “other” or damaged ballots that need to be salvaged.
I ask that the Board pass a resolution stipulating the following:
a) An outside independent auditor (not an election official or vendor) be hired to conduct a random manual audit of at least 2 percent of the vote, if possible matching Q-R codes to the paper ballot print outs.
b) All provisional ballots be counted, with charts that explain why a provisional ballot vote was rejected — with the results made public, minus the voter’s name or identification.
c) Provisional ballots be impounded in case a campaign demands a recount.
d) Extra poll workers be hired to speed up the process of counting the provisionals.
e) County counsel be directed to review the Smartmatic contract for liquidated damages, should an official investigation produce evidence of material problems resulting from malfunctioning machines and problematic software (reported complaints about “more”, “next”, vote flipping).
f) The Board of Supervisors review the Smartmatic contract, effective until 2027.
g) Revert back to precinct polling with paper voter rolls, paper ballots and a few touchscreens for those who prefer to vote on the ballot marking devices, plus polling locations and/or voter centers on public college campuses to facilitate mail ballot drop offs and same day registration.
h) A team of county investigators issue a written report making public the problems with the new voting system and recommendations going forward to ensure and protect voting rights in LA County.
I) County supervisors provide oversight of our elections and issue a financial analysis of the costs of this new system and the funding sources to pay for it.
Thank you for your time and consideration of these recommendations to protect the integrity of elections in LA County.
Respectfully,
Marcy Winograd
