San Diego's top election official on what interference could look like

Safchik: Thank you very much for doing this. Brom: Glad to be here. Thank you. Safchik: We are one week out from the election. How are things going? Brom: Things are going well. We re seeing a nice turnout and both vote by mail and in person. Safchik: Do you have those numbers for us? Brom: Yeah. So there s been about 417,000 ballots returned by mail. And we re looking at about 3000 people that voted in person. So this is trending higher than it did in the last gubernatorial general election. We re looking right now at about a 21% turnout when we re just talking about the vote by mail, when comparing it to 2022. There was about 16%. So we re seeing a good increase as we expand on the vote center turnout. As I mentioned, we re about 3000 in person so far for the three days that we ve been open. Today s being the fourth day, but that compares to just about a thousand the same time in 2022. So a much higher in-person turnout right now and a good, healthy turnout for vote by mail as well. Safchik: Has there been anything out of the ordinary about this election so far? Brom: Nothing out of the ordinary. But we do want people to know that it was a two card ballot, because although we ve received a good number of 400,000, that still means 1.6 million have not voted. So those may people may be people that are not, looking at their ballot yet to know that they have two cards. So that s just due to the number of contest we have on the ballot. So we want people to be aware of that, that it may take more time to go through the ballot and cast their vote. Safchik: People are seeing headline after headline about election integrity and interference. What has been done to protect the sanctity of this election? Brom: And so with every election, we work with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners. This time around, we re meeting a little earlier. We ve had additional tabletop exercises. So we ve had three that we ve participated in already. Typically we would have one. So we bring our community partners together where we discuss different scenarios that could happen that are likely to happen and how would we respond? What is the coordination look like? So we ve had one at the state level and we ve had two here locally. And we want to be prepared as we go into the election. No surprises. So who would we contact and what would that response look like? And so while there is concern out there, the elections in San Diego are safe, secure and accessible and we are working with our partners to ensure that happens for in-person voting and also here at the registrar s office. Safchik: What kind of scenarios are you gaming out through in these exercises? Brom: So we think about interference and intimidation and how do we respond with that? We have de-escalation training that occurs with our poll workers. But again as mentioned we have coordination with our local law enforcement on what an escalated response would look like. Safchik: A U.S. attorney said, “every minute that goes by, American citizen votes are being diluted in the state of California.” Is there any veracity to that claim? Brom: And so what we do here is we follow the state and federal laws for people registering to vote. People are attesting that they are a citizen. They re 18 years or older, not in prison for a felony and also not declared mentally incompetent. So there is an attestation that they are eligible to register to vote. And from there we process the information. We continue year round with file maintenance. This is working with partners from the DMV, the United States Postal Service, Secretary of State, to ensure that our voter records are always current and up to date. In addition, we do work with the jury commissioner. If somebody states that they are not a citizen, that will be forwarded to us, and we will look to see if that individual is on the rolls and remove them. If that s the case, and also provide that notification to that individual. Safchik: What kind of communications have you had with the DOJ so far in this election cycle? Brom: And so in regards to the DOJ. We ve had the notification that they will be monitoring in San Diego. This is a common practice where they ll go through and do election monitoring, but there s no interference. So I ve already had discussions with that on the scope of how many people are going to be around and about how many vote centers they re going to visit. So again, a very common practice that occurs when there s a federal contest on the ballot. So they will be in San Diego. And we are open to observation, not just for the federal government, but for anybody, even in the public, that would like to observe the processes that occur at vote centers or even at our office here in Kearny Mesa. Safchik: What about those subpoenas for voter records? Was there anything uncouth or unusual about those requests? Brom: There s nothing unusual. This is something that s also common. We do receive subpoenas. From the federal government requesting information for voter files. This time around, we did have 5 in 2026, which is a little higher than usual that we have. But in terms of the practice, it is very common for us to receive that and then reply, as required by law. Safchik: So then why do you think that has gotten so much attention this time around? Brom: And so I don t actually know the attention about it of what s happening there, but I know it is a common practice. It will continue to comply with it. And any questions that we do have, whether it s from the media or the public. We want to be able to respond to that with the facts and let them know about the process and our participation in it. Safchik: What does your coordination with the Secretary of State, with the Attorney General look like? Brom: So we do reach out to them, but they also serve more of an advisory role of what they re doing. But it s always back to our county counsel. And how are we going to respond to whatever may have come in such as in this case the subpoena that is through our county counsel. But we do also, again, maybe receive some advice or some information from the Secretary of State, maybe to the scope that they re seeing in the state. But ultimately, it is our decision on how we are going to reply or respond to the inquiry itself. Safchik: The California Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, said, quote, we re fighting against the administration of the United States, which is unfortunate because we ve never had them directly as an enemy to us. Is that how you perceive that relationship right now? Brom: So I just focus on administering the elections, and I seek guidance from county counsel on what our obligations should be and what our compliance is. And if that is, determined that we should be providing records or not, then I will do that as the elections administrator to find those records and provide them. Safchik: Hearing the highest ranking election official in the state use that language. What impact does that have on voters? Brom: So I don t know what the impact is on voters, specifically, but what I want to make sure is that voting is accessible and easy to participate in. And so that starts off first off, with every voter receiving a ballot in the mail and then also providing the in-person services. So what we re trying to highlight is really that voting is safe, secure and accessible at all of the voting locations. And if there s any concerns, let us know. People can report any interference that they may perceive on the website. So we can look into that. And in addition, of course, they can contact us by calling us and letting us know, but we take security very seriously. We re going to make sure that people are able to vote free of harassment and intimidation. Safchik: Is there anything you re worried about on Election Day itself? Brom: So my focus is to make sure people can vote, that it s going to be accessible, that there are no problems with getting to the vote centers, that there s no closures. As always, with every election, we re prepared to work with SDGE road crews, whoever it may be, in the county, to make sure that sites remain accessible. There s always something that may occur. In the past, we ve had power outages at a location. So we re always trying to make sure that all of our locations are up and running. And if there s something that needs to be addressed, it will be. And it will be back up or at least diverted to the nearest location until the vote center could be restored. Safchik: You said there will be federal law enforcement DOJ presence in San Diego on Election Day? Brom: No, I did not say that. So what we have are election managers. It s part of the Department of Justice, but it s part of the Civil Rights Division to ensure that we re complying with the physical accessibility needs and also the language accessibility needs. So that is what will be taking place, which is referred to just as federal election monitors, ensuring that we are in compliance with the Voting Rights Act and also the Help America Vote Act. Safchik: But that will be boots on the ground? Brom: I don t know what they ll be wearing, to say that, but I do know that people will be here, going into the different areas. So we have a few groups and they may go to about, maybe about like 40 or 50 different polling locations. But again, that is something that is occurring even with our local communities. And organizations, as we have different groups participating, in election observation, we just make sure that the observation ground rules are adhered to and otherwise that will be reported to our office. If it s something that the poll worker is not able to address directly there, and if needed, we will provide a response. We do work closely with local police departments and also the sheriffs to help enforce any interference that may be taking place that we re unable to address immediately there at that time. Safchik: And are you confident that that monitoring is going to be above board and procedural? Brom: Yes, I am in my conversation with the Department of Justice. This will be just as it has been in the past with San Diego and as they ve done, throughout the nation, which is just observing and making sure that the election laws are being adhered to, specifically with language and physical access. Safchik: What more could this office, the Registrar, use in terms of resources? Brom: That s a good question that I, I appreciate that I feel at this point we have a lot of resources to get out. The vote. We ve had an additional campaign, providing state funding to all of the counties in the state, which allowed us to focus on voting today, vote early. What we re trying to do is get the ballots counted quicker. What we do think has been very effective is our campaign, not only through the media, but through community partners, to let people know that it s a longer ballot and to vote early to avoid potentially long lines on election day, plus by voting early. That helps us get the election results out quicker on election night and ultimately being able to provide those final canvass numbers for certifying the election sooner. So resources we seem to have in place for this election. And again, our big focus is access to being able to vote without any restrictions and also getting those election results out quicker. As mentioned, we are about 5% higher than we were before, a good 417,000 in-person. So we re seeing a good turnout, and this may be early voting and it may just be a higher turnout. But what we d like to see is that we have the good infrastructure set up and people responding and coming out to vote, whether by mail, Dropbox or in-person. Safchik: What happens after Election Day? Brom: So after Election Day, we re going to continue counting ballots. These are the ballots that we ve received by mail. Also, the ones dropped off at vote centers or ballot drop box locations. So these are timely cast ballots received. And we have up to seven days to receive them by mail and 13 days to count those, according to state law. So we will continue processing these vote by mail ballots and then we re going to transition over to our provisional ballots. These are ballots that their identification could not be determined at the time. And a good example is somebody who forgot to register to vote. They can stop by a vote center and register and vote today that will be processed. After all, vote by mail ballots are completed and we ll verify before making that ballot good if they ve registered or voted in another county this election. And once that is clear, their ballot will be released. So there s still a lot of ballots to be counted. For example, last election, just in June on a smaller turnout election, we had over 300,000 valid timely cast vote by mail ballots. So we ll be working on all of those to make sure that everybody who cast a ballot on time is able to be counted. Safchik: I just want to make sure I have this completely accurate. What kind of federal election monitoring can voters expect to see on Election Day? Brom: So what you ll see are just plain clothes people doing observation. There will be no badges. Nobody in suits out there at a vote center providing any form of distraction or interference. What you ll be seeing is just a monitor looking at the procedures that s taking place. That is common practice, throughout the county from other organizations. So you won t even see them identified as anybody that would stand out other than it is a person from the public looking at the voting process. Safchik: And what would be out of the ordinary for that? What might raise a red flag for you? Brom: If there s any interference, if somebody is trying to tell our poll workers what to do, if they are taking pictures with voters in the vote center. So if there s some sort of interference that s taking place that is out of the ordinary. But our poll workers have been trained on how to respond and have individuals stop. The big thing is we point to the observation rules and guidelines that are posted there at all of our vote centers. In addition, everybody that is an observer does sign in, and then we re able to know who showed up from what group. And we just want to make sure that they re not interfering at all with the process when somebody shows up to vote. Safchik: And those observers come from where? Brom: I don t know where they re coming from, but they are from the Department of Justice. So specifically from where they re not all local in San Diego. Safchik: And are you anticipating any of that interference? Are you on higher alert? Brom: So we re always aware and we re on alert. We do work with our different coordination centers in case there is interference occurring. It might be in other counties. And we work with, again, local law enforcement and state and federal partners to see if there s a trend of something occurring, and to see if that s happening here or if there is any interference. Is it here? But we re always on alert to know what s happening. And part of that is our tabletop exercise, as discussed earlier, to know who would we talk to and how would we respond? Safchik: I ve spoken to voters right here at the registrar who say they normally vote by mail, but this year they felt more confident coming and dropping their ballot off in person. Are any of those fears or concerns about the Postal Service valid? Brom: So I can t speak to the fears or concerns, but what I can speak to is the opportunities that we provide. And so at the registrar s office, we want to make sure people have that opportunity to vote by mail if they choose to return it. Or at one of our ballot drop boxes that are located across the county. Now that vote centers are open, they can also drop them off at a vote centers. So we want to make sure that there s plenty of options for whatever particular interest or preference that a voter may have. Safchik: Have you heard about any issues with the vote by mail system this year? Brom: I have not heard of issues with the vote by mail system. What we do know is earlier this year, there was a change with the United States Postal Service on where the postmark is taking place and when. So as we get closer to the election, we like to say about a week out of the election, utilize one of these ballot drop box locations. You can still use the United States Post Office, but you need to make sure it is postmarked on or before Election Day. Then we can consider it timely cast once it s received. But the big thing is utilize the resources that we put out there, the ballot drop box locations, the vote centers. When you combine them. We have over 350 different locations that you can drop off your ballot. Safchik: What does this office do to fortify elections against fraud? What guardrails are in place? Brom: Well, so election security is built into every aspect that we do. And that starts off from our pre-election audits. And also our post-election audits. It includes signature verification as every single mail ballot that received is signature verified, and it also includes a documented chain of custody processes. Safchik: If prop 39 voter ID passes, what would implementation look like? Are those conversations happening or would that be premature? Brom: Those conversations are not happening on a large scale. As we plan and look ahead, we think about how that could be implemented. But those are still internal discussions we have not knowing what the future will hold, but we will make sure to follow all state laws as it applies. Safchik: Is that change to California election law necessary in order to protect elections here? Brom: So I can t speak to the necessity of what is being discussed, but what I can say is we will adhere to whatever the laws are and we will adjust processes if something moves forward. But we want people to know that voting is safe, secure and accessible in San Diego County. Safchik: For people who are on the fence about voting in this election, what is your message to them? Brom: Get out there and vote. It s easy to do. You can stop by any of our vote centers today. You can still vote your mail ballot in hand. Right now, we have a good number of people that have not returned their ballot despite seeing a very high early return, but we want people to now get out there and vote. Your voice matters and you express that through your vote. Safchik: Thank you so much for your time today. Brom: It s great to be here. Thank you.