SoCal Elections Offices Receive Bomb Threats

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — Vote count centers across the Southland received bomb threats over the last several days that spurred evacuations and response from law enforcement.

Officials said election offices in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties are the latest to be targeted by such threats. The news comes as election workers continue to process hundreds of thousands of ballots that will certify dozens of uncalled races across the state.

The latest bomb threat to force evacuations at a vote center in California hit the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office in Norwalk on Saturday.

"These threats and efforts to disrupt the legal, transparent, and secure process of counting all eligible ballots have no place in our electoral process," said Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan in a statement.

On Election Day, Nov. 5, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was aware of bomb threats at polling places across the U.S. and had determined that many of them originated from Russia. It is unclear where the latest round of bomb threats came from.

A wave of bomb threats began in California on Friday in the early evening at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, prompting an evacuation 15 minutes before the office was scheduled to stop processing ballots, the office said.

"The Orange County Registrar of Voters is committed to ensuring equal access to the election process, protecting the integrity of votes, and maintaining a transparent, accurate, and fair election system. We are working diligently to address this incident and keep all staff and members of the public who visit our office safe," said Bob Page, Orange County's Registrar of Voters.

At the same time, something similar occurred in Riverside County when a bomb threat was made to the Riverside Central Counting Building. The building, occupied by residents and staff, was evacuated entirely within 5 minutes, according to the registrar's office.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department's bomb squad arrived on the scene shortly after but found no explosives on the property. Ballot processing resumed the next morning.

At the same time, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters had received a bomb threat at its office in Kearny Mesa, officials confirmed Saturday.

The threat came in early Friday evening but was determined to be "not credible," and no injuries were reported, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.

"The Sheriff's Office will continue working with law enforcement partners to monitor intelligence and information related to any possible threats, and they are prepared to handle any safety challenges that may arise," according to a statement from the county.

On Saturday, the last threat arrived in Southern California when vote counters in Los Angeles County received a bomb threat one day after similar threats were made across the region.

"We take all such threats seriously and are working closely with the FBI, state authorities, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to ensure the safety of our staff and community and maintain uninterrupted operations," Logan said.

The threats come as ballots continue to be counted and closely watched races inch closer to resolution.

California officials say it will take until at least Nov. 12, if not longer, for every mail-in ballot to be counted, though many races are likely to be called before then. In Los Angeles County alone, around half a million ballots still need to be processed. In Orange County, more than 200,000 remain to be counted. In Riverside County, some 225,000 remained unprocessed as of Nov. 8.

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Although the smattering of threats across California were all deemed not credible and no explosives have been found at any of the vote count centers, federal authorities are still working to investigate the incidents.

Anyone with information was urged to submit tips to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or online at tips.fbi.gov.

"Election integrity is among the FBI’s highest priorities," the FBI said in a statement last week. "We will continue to work closely with our state and local law enforcement partners to respond to any threats to our elections and to protect our communities as Americans exercise their right to vote."