With the November election just days away, officials are working to combat misinformation that could impact voters. There’s been falsehoods about undocumented people voting and lies targeting communities of color that can discourage people from participating on Election Day.
Boyle Heights Beat spoke with Mike Sanchez, the senior public information specialist for the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The Registrar’s office is responsible for the registration of voters and maintenance of voter files and conducts federal, state, local and special elections.
The Registrar’s office covers approximately 4.8 million registered voters, as well as 5,000 voting precincts established for countywide elections.
Sanchez talks about the dangers of election misinformation and the role of voters in combating it.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
BHB: What communities are the most vulnerable to election disinformation in Los Angeles County, and why?
Sanchez: Election dis- and misinformation isn’t just specific to one community or one one neighborhood. It’s across the board and can impact communities far and wide. I luckily have a dedicated team of media assistants who oversee social media. We use different social media listening and platforms to be able to, based on keywords, see what people are saying across social media. When certain words like voter fraud, or election fraud, or vote by mail ballot, or anything related to the election or voting period itself, we have people designated to scan those social media platforms. In the event that an individual [or] a group of people are spreading information, whether it’s deliberate or not, we will engage directly on those platforms and provide factual information. We will counter the narratives that might be false, and we’ll do that by also providing direct information and direct links to resources like our office’s website or in some circumstances the Secretary of State’s website.
BHB: Can you talk about the types of election misinformation this year that you have seen repeated from other election years?
Sanchez: Some of the themes that we see typically question the expediency of the election administration. In California, as an example, we have 30 days after Election Day to certify election results. We will hear from people who have small [or large] followings on social media, stating their opinion about the process and … why it’s taking too long. We provide that information about what the process is here in California to make sure every eligible vote that’s returned is processed and counted accurately. That’s one [example] which we’ve seen cycle over cycle, of claims of why it takes too long.
Since we’ve transitioned to vote by mail and mailing all active registered voters a ballot in the mail before every election, there’s a lot of opinion [about] the county and the state of California doing that — claims that there are no safeguards, claims that the county or counties across the state are erroneously mailing out ballots. That’s simply not true. There’s no evidence to provide or to back any of those claims. We provide the facts and educate as much as we can. There’s a verification process that the state of California requires. Every registered voter who returned the ballot in the mail had to sign that ballot, and we had to verify their signature before it gets counted and added to the tally of the results. That’s a very methodical, multiphase process.
BHB: There is a lot of false information out there about noncitizens voting in federal elections, what kind of effect does this have on L.A. county voters?
Sanchez: As an election official, it’s first important to note that, while we administer the election and we provide voting access, we provide voter registration [and] voting locations. The voter registration component, it does require, when you’re filling out that form, whether it’s online or in person, that you are 18 years of age and a U.S. citizen. After you fill in those checkboxes, you are signing under oath, under penalty of perjury, that the information is true and accurate, and submitting that to either a government office, or if it’s online, completing that online application.
The most important piece to say straight, very directly, is that there is no — at least to my knowledge — evidence to provide or to prove that there is any fraudulent voter registration activity taking place. We’re not a law enforcement agency. We provide and administer the election. In the event that there are concerns about certain eligibility requirements, there are proper channels that allow folks to be able to report that. But, to be completely candid, the most important piece to this, is to illustrate that that narrative is baseless. There is no widespread voter fraudulent voting activities taking place as it relates to voter registration.
BHB: In previous elections, there have been attempts to suppress votes, such as the 2020 robocalls and the recent suppression of LULAC, an organization that helps Latinos register to vote, which was targeted by the state Attorney General in Texas. With such incidents, are there any organizations that work to combat voter suppression?
Sanchez: As the county’s registrar, we have the ability and responsibility to educate and inform, and to the degree possible when there are circumstances aiming to mislead, correct that information. But there’s [the] California Secretary of State as well. There’s a variety of community-based organizations here, locally, and also across the state and nation that work as a non-partisan messenger providing factual information and resources.
Our message to voters and to our community partners is unless it’s from our office, the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder County Clerk, or at the state level, if it’s from the Secretary of State’s office, you have to ensure that the information that you’re reviewing, or reading, or seeing, is coming from an official source.
We certainly encourage folks [to] share the information that we provide them. We create many graphics, fact sheets, and fliers. We share those far and wide with the intention to clearly touch as many people as humanly possible with the information. It’s part and parcel responsibility of the voters, but it’s also part and parcel responsibility for the offices that are conducting, and administering the elections to ensure that we’re working with community-based partners to educate and provide factual information.
