OC election: Report of phony voting center in Westminster prompts investigation by DA's office
WESTMINSTER, Calif. (KABC) -- A report of a possible phony voting center in Westminster on Tuesday prompted the Orange County district attorney's office to send a team of investigators to the location, officials said.
The incident unfolded on an Election Day that was otherwise marked by smoothly moving voting lines and a lack of major delays at polling places throughout the county.
An anti-voter suppression group called Clarity OC alerted authorities about the unofficial voting location, saying reporting that ballots were being discarded.
Brisk drive-thru voting seen at Honda Center in OC; no major delays countywide
"They are throwing away voters' ballots in a primarily POC area of the county," a Twitter user said in the caption of a video of the location. The office of the Orange County Registrar of Voters responded to that tweet, saying it was working with the DA's office amid the ongoing investigation.
Investigators who were sent to the site by District Attorney Todd Spitzer found that it was connected to two Republican campaigns.
"Individuals were asked to assist people who had not yet voted -- who had not even opened their ballot," Spitzer told ABC7. "And they took -- they opened the ballot, they discarded the outside shell, and then they assisted the individual with voting and then designated these individuals to be the custodian of their ballot, which is lawful under ballot harvesting."
Although investigators determined that ballots were not being thrown out, the legal team was looking to see if there were any other violations of the law.
The DA's office said it has received multiple election-related allegation, but most of them involved campaigning too close to a polling location. Doing so within 100 feet of a voting center is illegal.
