With the primaries officially underway, election workers put the first batch of test ballots through Orange County’s voting system on Thursday, Feb. 8. Inside the spacious and drafty warehouse at the Orange County Registrar of Voters headquarters in Santa Ana, around 10 workers, each with multiple stacks of test ballots, fed them one by one through the ballot scanning devices.

Related: Orange County Register’s March 5, 2024 Primary Election Voter Guide

By the end of the day on Friday, the 40 machines that had been tested this week were deemed to be working properly, according to the Registrar’s Office.

“We’ve never had any discrepancies in the vote count,” said Registrar of Voters Bob Page.

Thursday officially kicked off the testing of all ballot scanning devices that will be used in the primary election. It is called, according to the Secretary of State, the “logic and accuracy test,” mandated by the state to “ensure that every device used to tabulate ballots accurately records each vote.”

Accuracy testing of Orange County’s voting system started with the preparation of test ballots and will continue until all devices have been included in the test, said Page. The Registrar’s Office wants to ensure every device accurately counts ballots before they are put into use, he said.

If a device, during testing, is found to be counting ballots inaccurately, it won’t be put to use, Page said.

As in years past, voters have several ways to vote, Page said. Ballots can be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service, dropped off at a ballot box or delivered in person at a vote center. Voters can also vote in person at any vote center.

The 406 test ballots used in the “logic and accuracy test” this week cover every scenario in which a voter could submit a ballot, whether it’s a pre-printed ballot that is mailed out to voters or ballots created by marking devices at a vote center, Page said.

Test ballots were marked to replicate how voters could vote, and election workers fed them through the ballot scanning devices, called Hart InterCivic Verity Voting. When the ballot is inserted, the screen shows the message: “Please wait, the device is processing your ballot.”

Once the ballot has been processed, the device chimes, and the screen shows a blue background with an American flag.

At the end of the logic and accuracy test, about 400 machines will have gone through testing, said Page. There will be two ballot scanning devices at each of the 183 vote centers in the county — 37 of which will open on Feb. 24, followed by another 146 on March 2 — and at least 20 extra just in case.

Hart machines, used by 12 other California counties, allow voters to either fill out their ballot by hand or digitally and then scan and cast their ballot using a touch-screen operated ballot scanning device.

The test, along with other election activity, is open to the public to observe. Being transparent about election activity to the public allows people to see for themselves that the elections system works accurately, Page said.

“This has always been part of the process,” he said. “We will continue to make sure that conduct transparent elections.”

A lack of confidence in the election system and whether votes will be counted correctly is a concern many Republican voters hold, according to a December poll by The Associated Press – NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found that about three in 10 Republicans nationwide have a “moderate” amount of confidence and three in 10 have “only a little” or “none at all.” On the other hand, 72% of surveyed Democrats said they are confident their votes will be counted correctly.

Starting in this election, Page said, voters could return their vote-by-mail ballot at a vote center and have it “processed and counted like a nonprovisional ballot cast in person,” according to legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year.

Page said the greeter at a vote center will ask every voter who comes in to deliver a vote-by-mail ballot whether they would like to simply drop off the ballot or vote it as an in-person ballot. If the voter chooses the latter, their status will be changed from a vote-by-mail voter to an in-person voter, and they will be required to sign the roster for the voting location. After, they will be given a secrecy folder and directed to a ballot scanning device, Page said.

To ensure voters know where their ballot is, the Registrar has a tool that allows voters to track their ballot. Voters can sign up at ocvote.gov/track to receive notifications about the different steps in the process, Page said. Those who are signed up now will receive a notification when their ballot has been mailed. A notification will also be sent when ballots are returned to the Registrar, and when ballots are accepted for counting, the system will notify voters who have issues with their ballot, for example, forgetting to sign the envelope.

Correa is being challenged by David Pan who teaches German language, history, literature and culture at UC Irvine.

The district is anchored in central Orange County, home to one of the nation’s densest concentrations of Latinos. The son of Mexican immigrants, Correa, a longtime fixture in Orange County politics, has easily held onto his seat in his past reelection bids.

A member of the Committee on Homeland Security, Correa, 66, says border security “must be a top priority for the nation.” He says that he’s long been a supporter of “Dreamers,” young immigrants brought to the U.S. unlawfully through no fault of their own, and he introduced legislation last year that would give permanent resident status to “Dreamers” for 10 years and provide them a pathway to citizenship.

“‘Dreamers’ deserve to live in peace and continue contributing to our great nation without fear of deportation,” he said in 2023.

Pan, who said he was a registered Democrat until earlier last year, also supports helping “Dreamers” if elected. “We need to craft a deal to stop illegal immigration while developing a solution for ‘Dreamers’ and a sustainable immigration policy that contributes to a strong economy,” he said.

When it comes to artificial intelligence — increasingly becoming a hot topic in the 2024 election as Meta and other tech companies are working “to create common technical standards for identifying” posts created using AI, according to Bloomberg — both candidates want to see some action from the federal government on regulation.

“As with cybersecurity, the federal government has the role of collaborating with private actors to develop safe AI systems that also allow for growth and innovation,” Pan, 60, said.

Correa, who compared AI technology to the invention of the semiconductor and the internet, said, “AI promises much and has the potential for great misuse.” The federal government, he said, must provide “legal guardrails” to ensure that AI does not erode civil rights and privacy.

“We must also ensure that American entrepreneurship and innovation continue to flourish under AI and that the benefits of AI flow to all, creating jobs and prosperity for all Americans,” Correa said.

When asked what environment or climate policy they’d champion if elected, Correa pointed to legislation he introduced last year that would give a 40% tax credit to small landscape businesses to transition their gasoline lawnmowers to all-electric. The ban on the sale of gas-powered lawnmowers in California went into effect at the beginning of the year.

“Most of the gardeners who cut our lawns live paycheck to paycheck and will unlikely be able to make the expensive ‘transition’ to all-electric,” said Correa. “As we address climate policy, let’s not forget our hard-working men and women on Main Street.”

Pan said he would support cap-and-trade policies, which would set a “cap” on emissions, limiting companies on how much greenhouse gases they emit.

“That would create demonstrable progress toward climate goals,” he said.

CA-46 covers Anaheim — home to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure — Santa Ana, Stanton and parts of Orange and Fullerton.

Correa’s seat is deemed unlikely to become closely contested by the Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections. According to state data, CA-46 is a Democratic stronghold: Democrats account for 48.8% of all the registered voters in the district, while 22.1% are Republicans and 23.1% are no party preference voters.

Correa holds a comfortable cash lead over his challenger. He reported raising $163,075 in the last quarter of 2023, ending the year with about $1.8 million still left to spend.

In the same quarter, Pan brought in $35,753 and closed out the year with $30,861 cash on hand.

Primary ballots went out to all registered voters on Monday, Feb. 5. Ballot drop boxes also opened on Monday and voting centers will open on Feb. 24. The Orange County Registrar’s office is providing in-person voting, voter registration, replacement ballots and other general assistance.

Steel is being challenged by policy advocate Cheyenne Hunt, Garden Grove City Councilmember Kim Nguyen-Penaloza, affordable housing attorney Aditya Pai and attorney Derek Tran.

Steel’s seat is deemed “lean Republican” by the Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections, although registered Democrats in the district outnumber registered Republicans. According to state data, Democrats account for 37.9% of all the registered voters in the district, which covers portions of Los Angeles and Orange counties, while 32.4% are Republicans and 24% are no party preference voters.

CA-45 is one of 31 House seats held by Republicans that the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm sees as a “key to winning a Democratic House majority.” The majority-Asian district is home to Orange County’s Little Saigon, the largest Vietnamese enclave outside of Vietnam, and they are expected to play an outsize role in determining who represents them in the House.

Steel, who in 2020 became one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, previously served on the Board of Equalization and the Orange County Board of Supervisors. In Congress, she’s been an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party, introducing legislation that aims to increase oversight of foreign investments in higher education and another that restricts the use of a Chinese logistics platform by the U.S. military.

“Our greatest national security threat, the Chinese Communist Party, is watching how we handle the war in Ukraine and gauging our level of support for Israel,” she said.

That’s why Steel believes the U.S. cannot “waver in supporting American allies,” and “must stop Russian President Vladimir Putin and destroy Hamas,” she said.

Recently, the U.S. Senate released a long-awaited border deal, which cracks down on illegal crossings and expedites asylum while tightening the system, making it harder for people to seek asylum. But former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have criticized the deal, with the latter saying that it would be “dead on arrival” if the Senate decides to pass it.

Said Steel: “I support Republican efforts to get border security funding into any legislation that will also fund Ukraine.”

Nguyen-Penaloza, the daughter of a Vietnamese refugee and a Mexican immigrant, said, “It is important for the U.S. to remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine” and that she supports “a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Pai, on the other hand, said Congress should approve military and financial assistance to foreign nations if they align with American values and interests.

“We should only involve ourselves in conflicts that both implicate a core national security interest and enable us to act in ways that we can all be proud of as Americans,” he said. “Both countries (Israel and Ukraine) deserve our support because of our shared values: democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Both countries also implicate core national security interests in Europe and the Middle East.”

Tran, the son of Vietnamese refugees, said, “Supporting our allies in times of crisis — and standing up for human rights, democracy and peace — remains in our best interests as a country,” while Hunt, a 26-year-old from Fullerton, said U.S. assistance to foreign countries, including Israel and Ukraine, “should be rooted in promoting human rights, democracy and global stability.”

“Aid should be conditional, based on the recipient country’s commitment to human rights and democratic principles,” she said. “This approach ensures that U.S. aid does not prolong conflicts or support undemocratic practices.”

The U.S. must also balance its role in foreign affairs with investments in domestic welfare, she said.

CA-45 is one of several Republican-held House districts that went for President Joe Biden in 2020. It includes Fountain Valley, Westminster, Garden Grove, Cypress, Buena Park, La Palma, Placentia, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor and parts of Brea, Fullerton and Yorba Linda in Orange County; and Cerritos, Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens and parts of Lakewood in Los Angeles County.

Candidates also weighed in on the role — and size — of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has come under scrutiny in recent years. Last year, a ProPublica investigation revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips and private boarding school tuition payments for his grandnephew from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, then failed to disclose them.

This election, the highest court is directly involved: Before the Supreme Court this week is a case over former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on states’ primary ballots.

Hunt, Pai and Tran, the three candidates in the legal field, all said they are in favor of imposing term limits for justices.

“The current Supreme Court, by accepting gifts like luxury trips, real estate and college tuition for family members, among other ethical lapses, has shown itself to be unworthy of life tenure — and incapable of regulating itself,” Pai said.

Both Pai and Tran said they are opposed to adding more justices to the court, with Pai noting that “a court that is struggling with extreme partisanship and credible allegations of bribery cannot be fixed by even more partisan posturing.”

Steel characterized adding more justices to the court as a push by “left-wing zealots who seek a complete takeover of the federal government in order to enact their radical policies.” She added that the Constitution provides justices life terms “to ensure they are not swayed by political whims,” a proposition that has “worked well since our founding.”

Nguyen-Penaloza said she is open to potential term limits and expanding the size of the court.

Abortion rights has also emerged as a key issue in the CA-45 race. While incumbent Steel said she opposes abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and the health and life of the mother, in January, she co-sponsored legislation that doesn’t spell out those exceptions.

Her primary challengers have all voiced support for abortion rights — Nguyen-Penaloza said she is “infinity percent pro-choice,” Hunt said she supports following California law, which allows abortion until a doctor determines the fetus could live outside the uterus without extreme measures; and Tran and Pai said they support the codification of Roe v. Wade, which would allow almost no restrictions in the first trimester of pregnancy, some restrictions in the second and a ban in the third so long as the life and health of the mother is protected.

Regarding campaign finance, Steel leads the pack by a wide margin. She reported raising just over $1 million in the last quarter of 2023 (including a $300,000 loan), ending the year with about $3 million still left to spend.

In the same quarter, Nguyen-Penaloza, who nabbed the state Democratic Party’s endorsement and has the support of a host of federal, state and local elected officials and organizations, raised $75,484 and has $61,652 cash on hand.

Hunt, who reported a $55,217 haul (including a $20,000 loan), closed out 2023 with $137,409 cash on hand, and Pai reported raising $4,810 with $16,662 still left in the bank.

Tran, the last one to jump into the race, had the second-largest fourth-quarter haul: He raked in $535,304 and ended the year with $364,550 cash on hand.

Primary ballots went out to all registered voters on Monday, Feb. 5. Ballot drop boxes also opened on Monday and voting centers will open on Feb. 24. The Orange County Registrar’s office is providing in-person voting, voter registration, replacement ballots and other general assistance.

Kim is being challenged by retired fire captain Joe Kerr and Tustin Unified School District President Allyson Muñiz Damikolas.

Kim’s seat is deemed “likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections. According to state data, Republicans account for 37.9% of all the registered voters in the district, which covers portions of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, while 33.9% are Democrats and 22% are no party preference voters.

CA-40 is one of 31 House seats held by Republicans that the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm sees as a “key to winning a Democratic House majority.”

Kim, who in 2020 became one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, said she grew up in South Korea in the aftermath of the Korean War and felt firsthand the constant threat of the North Korean regime. That’s why she supports “aid to our allies and partners in Ukraine and Israel as they defend themselves and their livelihoods against rogue aggression by Vladimir Putin and Hamas terrorists,” Kim said.

But Kim, who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee and chairs the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee, said that “supporting allies and partners cannot take precedence over our nation’s priorities.”

“Oversight of the administration is a top priority of mine,” she said. “I’m watching like a hawk how taxpayer dollars are being spent and fighting to ensure America projects strength on the world stage.”

Damikolas, a Democrat, said, “Congress has a responsibility to the American people first and foremost.” Part of that responsibility is “protecting our interests abroad by standing up to economic and security threats,” she said.

Damikolas pointed to “growing economic threats from China and Russia” as examples of what the U.S. needs to challenge.

And Kerr, the other Democrat in the primary, said that “while it is not our role to determine the best course of action for each country or their respective democratic governments, it is our responsibility to protect the lives of vulnerable citizens” when U.S. allies are waging a war against terrorist organizations, dictatorial governments, annexation or violent regimes.

But for U.S. allies to receive aid, he said, they must abide by the “standards and confines of the Rules of Engagement,” which requires that use of force abide by international law.

“Civilian lives should never be held as ransom, or used as currency, for geopolitical gain,” Kerr said.

Border security is a priority for voters this election cycle, a 2023 survey of California voters found. More than 6 in 10 surveyed likely voters said the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border is either “a crisis” or “a major problem.”

Recently, the U.S. Senate released a long-awaited border deal, which cracks down on illegal crossings and expedites asylum while tightening the system, making it harder for people to seek asylum. The 370-page border deal also outlines aid to Ukraine and Israel. If passed, the U.S. will send around $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, $14 billion to Israel and $9.2 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in Ukraine and Gaza.

Kerr said he supports “expediting the asylum-seeking process, providing comprehensive access to legal services, creating additional regional processing centers with more humane facilities that prevent families from being separated and providing additional training and resources for key personnel.”

While there are aspects of the bill that do not go far enough to help those coming to America, Kerr said, it’s ultimately “a step in the right direction.”

In Congress, he said he would also advocate for a clearer, more actionable path to citizenship for all immigrants, including “Dreamers,” young immigrants brought to the U.S unlawfully through no fault of their own. They represent a key demographic left out by the comprehensive Senate border bill.

“‘Dreamers’ deserve to be here,” Damikolas said. “And I’ll support pathways that give ‘Dreamers’ full access to the only lives they’ve known since childhood.”

While Kim supports granting legal status to “Dreamers,” she voted against legislation in 2021 that would’ve granted individuals in the U.S. unlawfully a path to receive legal status, given that they meet certain requirements, including being “continuously physically present in the United States since Jan. 1, 2021, passing a background check and being enrolled in or having completed certain educational programs,” according to the bill. Kim noted then that the legislation “went far beyond giving legal status to Dreamers;” granting “legal status to those who arrived in the U.S. as recently as January of 2021.”

“I think they should be able to stay here legally,” Kim had said. “But we also need to remember there are people who have been waiting in line for a number of years.”

CA-40 is one of several Republican-held House districts that went for President Joe Biden in 2020. It includes Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo, Orange, Rancho Santa Margarita, Tustin, Villa Park and Yorba Linda in Orange County; Chino Hills in San Bernardino County; and Corona in Riverside County.

When asked what environment or climate policy they’d champion if elected, Damikolas and Kerr alluded to their backgrounds, Damikolas as an environmental engineer and Kerr as a firefighter.

Damikolas said sustainability should be integrated into broad policy-making. Some examples, she said, include “developing a broad portfolio of water resources to sustainably manage limited supplies,” or “funding water agencies to address persistent chemicals and emerging contaminants.”

She said transitioning to sustainable energy sources such as wind, hydro, solar, biofuels and geothermal is “the physically and economically wise choice for our country.”

Kerr said he would champion increasing firefighter staffing to combat wildfires and installing wildfire detection AI cameras that have the capability to differentiate smoke from clouds, fog and smog.

“We cannot solve climatic extremes until we solve wildfires,” he said. “This output of (carbon dioxide) causes the climate to respond with extreme weather patterns including larger, hotter, more frequent wildfires.”

Kim, on the other hand, decried high gas prices and rising utility costs in California. U.S. innovation, she said, “is the best way that we can secure energy independence, lower costs, protect our national security and reduce emissions long-term.”

Regarding campaign finance, Kim is in the lead. She reported raising $752,055 in the last quarter of 2023, ending the year with about $2,54 million still left to spend.

In the same quarter, Damikolas and Kerr raised $126,611 and $399,605 (including a $327,619 loan) and have $180,726 and $642,971 cash on hand, respectively.

Primary ballots went out to all registered voters on Monday, Feb. 5. Ballot drop boxes also opened on Monday and voting centers will open on Feb. 24. The Orange County Registrar’s office is providing in-person voting, voter registration, replacement ballots and other general assistance.

Rep. Linda Sánchez, a Democrat from Whittier who is serving her 11th term, is being challenged by Walnut City Councilmember Eric Ching, pastor John Sarega and entrepreneur Robert Zhang Ochoa. She faced Ching and Sarega in the midterm election in 2022.

Sánchez’s seat is deemed unlikely to become closely contested by the Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections. According to state data, Democrats account for 48.3% of all the registered voters in the district, which covers portions of Los Angeles and Orange counties, while 22.8% are no party preference voters and 22.7% are Republicans.

Ching, Ochoa and Sánchez differ on several issues, including immigration. Sarega did not submit a questionnaire for the Register’s 2024 Primary Election Voter Guide and did not respond to requests for comment about his platform.

Sánchez, the daughter of immigrants from Mexico, is a strong advocate for a pathway to citizenship for “Dreamers,” young immigrants brought to the U.S. unlawfully, as well as agricultural workers and noncitizens who have temporary protected status, which is granted to foreign nationals from countries that have “extraordinary and temporary conditions,” like war, that prevent them from returning safely, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

She also supports reforms to the United States’ asylum system, which include increasing asylum processing, upping the number of refugee and asylum officers and expanding temporary shelters for asylum seekers, as outlined in legislation she introduced last year.

“The U.S. Citizenship Act would build upon existing funds to provide smarter and safer border management, specifically by directing new resources to where they are most needed — at ports of entry where we must invest in technology, infrastructure and screening capacity,” Sánchez said.

But Ching and Ochoa, both Republicans, suggest shutting down the border.

“We should stop people from coming in because our cities cannot handle more illegal immigrants,” said Ching, who came to the U.S. from Taiwan in 1982. “We should not have any more people that we can’t handle.”

As for “Dreamers,” Ching said it isn’t fair for them to get “a free pass” simply because they were brought to the U.S. by their parents through no fault of their own.

“For the young kids, it’s not their fault,” Ching said. “But I do believe that we have to have law and order.”

Ochoa, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 6, said the border “needs to be closed.” He’s also advocating for reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for their hearings, and a guest worker program, formerly known as the “Bracero Program,” which, from 1942-1964, allowed millions of Mexican laborers to work in the U.S with a temporary work permit.

“That worked really well … they were here legally,” he said. “They had the right to be here for a period of time to work, and then they had to go back and reapply. My dad and all his friends would do that constantly, and it worked well for everybody. The United States needed workers and people from Mexico would take their earnings back home, so everybody was happy.”

Ochoa also said he supports a pathway to citizenship for “Dreamers.”

“That’s a very easy answer, yes,” he said. “I came here legally with paperwork, but in my mind, I always think, ‘Suppose my parents had not come here legally. I didn’t have a choice, I was 6 years old. I lived here my entire life.’”

CA-38 has the highest unemployment rate, 4.4%, of all the congressional districts that touch Orange County, according to U.S. Census data, The district includes La Habra in Orange County and Diamond Bar, La Habra Heights, Hacienda Heights, La Mirada, Los Nietos, Norwalk, Montebello, Pico Rivera, Rowland Heights, Santa Fe Springs, Walnut, Whittier and parts of Downey and Industry in Los Angeles County.

Sánchez strongly supports union workers and higher wages, and her political philosophy involves advocating for the working class, she said. Ochoa wants to see the economy improve, and Ching says that “the net effect of any bill should be beneficial to both the labor and employer as a whole.”

“Higher wages drive up the cost of living,” Ching said. “So by raising their minimum wage, is that really a win-win for the employee?”

Just as labor was one of the hottest topics in the California news landscape in this election cycle, foreign conflicts, including the Israel-Hamas war, are a driving topic in 2024 as well.

When asked how much assistance should the U.S. provide — military and/or financial — to foreign countries at war, like Israel or Ukraine, Sánchez said: “It’s critical that we deliver already-delayed aid to Ukraine in their efforts to stop Russian aggression and deliver aid to Israel as it works to defend itself from Hamas.” Aid to Ukraine and Israel has been delayed due to Congress’ inability to reach a deal yet this year on granting billions of dollars to the war-torn countries.

Sánchez also said humanitarian assistance must be delivered to “the millions in Gaza who are without food, water, fuel and more.”

“When it comes to assistance from the U.S., we have a responsibility to ensure humanitarian needs are met and that any military offenses are done within the bounds of international law,” she said.

While Ching and Ochoa agreed that the U.S. should aid its allies, Ching believes the assistance should serve “our national interests,” and Ochoa says the U.S. should ensure “other countries contribute a proportional amount of assistance.”

“For example, if Taiwan is at war, there are friendly countries like South Korea, Japan (and) so forth that should be contributing financial support,” Ochoa said.

If those countries decline to give money, the U.S. needs to exert pressure on them by saying the U.S. may not give them financial support if they’re ever in trouble, he said.

In terms of the money game, Sánchez is far and away in the lead. She reported raising $217,035 in the last quarter of 2023, ending the year with $628,948 still left to spend.

Ching reported raising $1,390 and having $10,517 cash on hand.

Sarega and Ochoa haven’t reported any fundraising.

Primary ballots are set to go out to all registered voters on Monday, Feb. 5. Ballot drop boxes will open the same day and voting centers will open starting Feb. 24. The Orange County Registrar’s office will provide in-person voting, voter registration, replacement ballots and other general assistance starting Feb. 5.

As in years past, voters have several ways to vote, OC Registrar of Voters Bob Page said. Ballots can be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service, dropped off at a ballot box or delivered in person at a vote center. Voters can also vote in person at any vote center.

Orange County’s 122 secure ballot drop boxes will open on Feb. 5 and remain open until 8 p.m. on March 5. The boxes, individually keyed and anchored to the ground, will be open 24/7 until March 4.

On Feb. 24, 37 vote centers will open around the county, followed by another 146 on March 2. Unlike the ballot drop boxes that only allow voters to submit their ballots, vote centers provide in-person voting, voter registration services, replacement ballots and other general assistance.

The Registrar of Voters’ office will provide those services starting Feb. 5, Page said. For voters who decide to vote in-person at the Registrar’s office or a vote center, without the ballot that was mailed to them, that mailed ballot will be flagged and disqualified if it’s also submitted.

A list of where the vote centers are located and when they open can be found on the Registrar’s website.

The Registrar’s office has several measures in place to ensure election security, Page said. Physical security measures include bolting the ballot drop boxes to the concrete and having individual keys for all of the boxes that are made of thick metal, he said.

Other safety measures include using teams of two election workers to collect the voted ballots, tracking their vehicle’s location by GPS and requiring them to take and send photos to the office to confirm that they’ve closed it properly before moving on to the next box, he said. The ballot collection teams are given new, random routes every day for their safety as well as the safety of the ballots, Page said.

The Registrar’s office also conducts audits, Page said, where election workers manually hand count a randomly selected percentage of the ballots. Per state election law, election officials are required to randomly select at least 1% of the precincts in their respective county and hand count all of the ballots that were cast within those precincts.

The public is allowed by state law to observe election activity, including the manual hand count.

Page said security will tighten for people who want to come into the office to observe election activity.

On top of bag checks, the Registrar’s office will rent a metal detector to add to the facility next week, he said. At the end of the primary election cycle, he said, the Registrar’s office will evaluate whether it makes sense to continue paying for a rental or to purchase one.

This is the first election that a metal detector is used, he said.

“We have to balance complete transparency and access for observers while also keeping everybody safe, the voters, our staff as well as observers,” Page said.

Observers are not required to RSVP to take part in the process, said Enedina Chhim, a spokesperson for the Registrar. In addition to observing in person, the Registrar will set up live streams, including on election night.

Starting on Wednesday, Page said the office will have a phone bank set up for voter questions that will be handled by staff on a daily basis.

To ensure voters know where their ballot is, the Registrar has a tool that allows voters to track their ballot. Voters can sign up at ocvote.gov/track to receive notifications about the different steps in the process, Page said. Those who are signed up now will receive a notification when their ballot has been mailed. A notification will also be sent when ballots are returned to the Registrar, and when ballots are accepted for counting, the system will notify voters who have issues with their ballot, for example, forgetting to sign the envelope.

That’s what several state legislators are suggesting as they ask for increased state leadership in managing the Los Angeles–San Luis Obispo–San Diego rail corridor.

The forecast of the 351-mile rail corridor, stretching from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, is dismal, the legislators said in a letter to the California State Transportation Agency earlier this month. While it once completed more than 8.3 million passenger trips at its peak in 2019, it is now making fewer than 4 million trips annually, they said.

“The corridor cannot provide the level of service needed to attract and retain ridership while facing prolonged track closures, unreliable service, infrequent trains and poor rider experience,” said the letter, signed by seven state senators, including Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas. “The time is now for increased state leadership.”

Track closures in San Clemente due to landslides have been a recurring theme in that vulnerable region, where the train runs along the coast. On Jan. 24, another landslide sent debris onto the railroad tracks, shutting down the rail line for about a 34-mile stretch indefinitely.

Metrolink, the commuter rail service managed by the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, is unable to secure enough shuttles or buses to shuttle commuters between Orange County and Oceanside while the trains are halted, said spokesperson Scott Johnson.

“Neither private nor public bus agencies in the region have a surplus of operators and equipment to provide the minimum 20 buses and up to 40 operators that would be needed to provide alternate transportation for train service between 4 a.m. and 9 p.m. with less than 12 hours notice,” Johnson said.

There have been several landslides in the area in the past year, including ones at the south end of San Clemente that caused the rail line to be closed for months. Last year, daily commuter rail service between south Orange County and San Diego was halted for several months.

It’s “unacceptable to have repeated infrastructure problems in the same section of the corridor again and again and not urgently plan a long-term solution,” said Blakespear, who helms the Senate Subcommittee on LOSSAN Rail Corridor Resiliency.

The way the corridor is governed must be addressed, Blakespear said. Nearly a dozen organizations have a stake in the LOSSAN corridor, including railroad owners, transit agencies, planning agencies and freight operators — each highly unique to the region they represent.

And what you end up with is a complex web that is hard to understand, she said.

“When you think of it as an ecosystem, it’s one line. But then you have all these transit agencies that feed into that line in order for people to get onto the train,” Blakespear said. “Because of the fact that it is decentralized, or you could say that it’s centered in a more local control, it means that there are a lot of different missions and focuses.”

Stakeholders weigh in

Until about a decade ago, the LOSSAN corridor was managed by the California Department of Transportation. Then in 2013, the Orange County Transportation Authority was chosen to oversee intercity passenger rail service. In 2015, officials in Sacramento and locally transferred the management of the Pacific Surfliner Amtrak rail service from Caltrans to the LOSSAN Agency, a joint powers authority governed by an 11-member board.

“Pacific Surfliner is a passenger rail service that is operated by LOSSAN. And then to add to the bureaucracy, the LOSSAN Agency is managed by the OCTA,” Johnson said. “Now the question is whether or not that’s the ideal way to manage the LOSSAN corridor.”

Still, despite the complexities of the current governance structure, Johnson said Metrolink has a great working relationship with all of the LOSSAN corridor’s stakeholders. He did not say whether an enlarged state intervention would be welcome to Metrolink.

Other organizations, including OCTA, said state leadership is necessary in determining a long-term vision for the corridor.

“An effort to successfully bring together the proper stakeholders — including local, state and federal agencies — as well as an effort to prioritize large capital projects and to fund what we know will be projects costing billions of dollars should be led by the state of California,” said spokesperson Eric Carpenter.

For the San Diego Association of Governments, one of the corridor’s two large metropolitan planning organizations, the railway is “key for passenger travel, the movement of goods to and from the port of San Diego and for the military,” said SANDAG CEO Coleen Clementson.

“It’s challenging to bring together all the stakeholders for the LOSSAN Agency,” she said. And that’s where she hopes the state will come in to help. With multiple stakeholders at the table, there will always be competition in determining priorities and where funding is focused first, she said.

Clementson said she appreciates heightened efforts by state leaders to bring the stakeholders together, including by reconvening the  LOSSAN Regional Rail Corridor Working Group, she said.

The group, which held its second meeting this month, will “support corridor-wide coordination to identify and quickly respond to emerging issues and opportunities to improve service,” said CalSTA spokesperson Marty Greenstein.

“Our job is to come together and develop a strategic plan,” Clementson said. “What are all the improvements that need to be done in the corridor, and then how do we prioritize the improvements that need to be made, and then how do we get funding and actually get the funding to make those improvements? I think having the state involved in supporting our work effort is incredibly helpful.”

The Southern California Association of Governments, the other metropolitan planning organization, declined to comment.

Jason Jewell, who oversees the LOSSAN Agency as its managing director, said while local control has been effective over the years, a stronger partnership between the stakeholders could be developed through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor ID Program that the LOSSAN corridor was selected for, providing Caltrans with a $500,000 grant for planning and development of long-term improvements to the corridor.

“One of the main goals of the program is to establish an inventory of projects so that they can work with the corridors to establish how those projects would be prioritized and funded over the long term,” Jewell said. “I think it’s a really good opportunity for the stakeholders, including the state and the LOSSAN Agency to work together to prioritize these capital programs and resiliency projects that are needed across the corridor.”

The goal of increased state leadership in managing LOSSAN is not an ask for full state control, Blakespear said. But she believes there isn’t as much expectation from the state about what locals will do or prioritize, she said.

“The state needs to align the expectations, funding and deliverables so that the investments we’re making into the rail corridor are optimized to keep the line functioning and actually growing ridership,” she said.

Mandating increased state leadership could come in the form of legislation, Blakespear said — and she may introduce a bill this year, she said.

Noting the budget deficit — the state faces a projected deficit of $37.9 billion this year, posing a large question mark for any projects or legislative proposals that include a pricetag — Blakespear said the legislators’ request isn’t a fiscal one.

“This is about governance and organization and the process for figuring out what to do,” she said. “What I want is for everybody to come to a consensus about what’s needed and to recognize whatever structural changes might need to happen.”

Staff writer Laylan Connelly contributed to this report.

The reconstruction of the new monument is to “celebrate the Tết Festival and honor the Vietnamese heritage and contribution to the community during the Lunar New Year festival,” according to a news release.

The Little Saigon monument in Santa Ana has a long and storied past. Some residents protested the monument when it was first proposed in 2003. Vietnamese residents said the monument could market the area and acknowledge the hard work and success of Vietnamese immigrants, but those opposed said it would allow for other ethnic signage to pop up in the city when residents should be united by the name Santa Ana alone.

Following its removal after it sustained damage in March 2008 by a vehicle, the City Council in 2015 approved restoring the monument. The Little Saigon Business District Committee was set to fund the sign and had planned to complete it within that year, but that didn’t materialize, said city spokesperson Paul Eakins.

“I don’t know the reason for that. I’m not sure if it was a funding issue, but they never did,” Eakins said. “So then, in the last couple of years, the City Council took up the issue and said, ‘You know what, we’re going to pay for it.’”

Last year, the City Council budgeted around $84,000 for the sign from the city’s general funds, Eakins said.

“This is part of the city’s efforts to recognize the Vietnamese community that often didn’t get as much attention in the past,” he said.

The unveiling of the new monument will “kick off Vietnamese Tết celebrations as the city of Santa Ana prepares to host its inaugural Tết Lunar New Year Festival on Feb. 3,” according to a news release. Santa Ana is set to host its first-ever Tết festival, a large-scale event celebrating the Vietnamese New Year, from 2 to 7 p.m. at Centennial Park.

On Thursday, a week after Newsom told reporters he would not issue a state of emergency proclamation for the fire that destroyed the massive World War II-era blimp hangar, Republican Rep. Young Kim and Democratic Rep. Lou Correa asked Newsom in a letter to reconsider, arguing that a proclamation would allow Tustin to “access critical federal funds for remediation efforts.”

“We share our constituents’ concerns regarding the fire’s impact on public health and the environment, as well as the city’s fiscal position after investing millions of dollars into toxic debris cleanup,” the lawmakers wrote. “To date, the city has spent $54.2 million for disaster response and debris cleanup, and costs continue to grow unsustainably. While the Navy delivered $11 million to the city, outstanding remediation costs are a key concern.”

The now shuttered Tustin Marine Corps Air Station’s northern blimp hangar caught on fire on Nov. 7,  and burned for weeks, prompting a cleanup in the surrounding community of debris that had fallen on schools, parks and homes.

Residents have asked for additional testing for lead or asbestos in their homes, remediation and reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses related to the fire, the lawmakers wrote in their letter. Some residents have spent thousands on testing their homes for hazardous contaminants or to rent hotel rooms to get away from the fire that wasn’t extinguished until Dec. 1.

City and county officials have been lobbying the governor to issue an emergency proclamation, and in turn request President Joe Biden to issue a presidential declaration of emergency, saying it would allow agencies to give money to the city and residents to get reimbursed for costs associated with the fire.

But Newsom, while in Orange County last week for a housing event in Costa Mesa, said because the emergency is over, a state of emergency proclamation “won’t have any effectiveness in terms of reimbursement.”

“Disaster declaration has to reach a certain threshold. A major disaster (declaration), actually has a numeric legal threshold of about $73 million. As it relates to this specific issue, it doesn’t reach those thresholds,” he said.

Kim and Correa questioned that threshold, asking Newsom to clarify why that would disqualify Tustin from receiving the “much-needed relief it is requesting.”

Mayor Austin Lumbard responded to Newsom’s comments then by saying it was the first time city officials had heard about a monetary threshold for emergency proclamations. Lumbard criticized Newsom’s response and said city officials have done their due diligence to understand the laws on the issue.

Navy officials have long said the service is committed to “fully pay for remediation efforts.” The Navy has faced criticism from local leaders for being too slow to commit more money to Tustin. The city has floated estimates of their total costs from the fire reaching more than $100 million.

The latest endorsement came from Rep. Lou Correa, who announced his support for Schiff Thursday morning, Jan. 25.

“I feel good in saying I’ve endorsed a good friend, an old friend, that we have worked together on issues for over 15 years,” said Correa.

Correa had praise for all three of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate race — Schiff from Burbank, Porter from Irvine and Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland — noting that he tries to stay out of primary races, “especially when it’s primaries among friends.”

But Schiff, Correa said, supports taxpayer equity for Orange County and requests for earmarks, the budget process by which individual members of Congress can bypass the federal government’s regular spending process and request money for local groups or needs. (Among the three House Democrats in the race, Porter doesn’t request earmarks and is vocally opposed, saying members can request funding for projects that benefit them rather than their districts.)

Schiff has also supported Correa’s legislative efforts to ensure businesses are compensated when negatively impacted by a major transit or highway project, the Orange County congressman said.

“He’s the guy who stepped up,” Correa said.

Reps. Mike Levin of San Juan Capistrano and Linda Sánchez of Whittier have also backed Schiff in the race. They, along with Correa, are among the 70% of California’s Democratic congressional delegation who have endorsed Schiff, according to Schiff’s campaign.

Other Orange County Democrats backing the Burbank Democrat include state Sen. Tom Umberg, Assemblymembers Blanca Pacheco and Avelino Valencia, County Supervisor Doug Chaffee and Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken.

A spokesperson for Porter’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

The three House Democrats are among a crowded slate of candidates vying for the seat, long held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, in the March 5 primary. Other contenders include Republican Steve Garvey, a businessman and former Los Angeles Dodger; Democrat Christina Pascucci, a former KTLA 5 reporter; and Republican Eric Early, an attorney.

“Californians are tired of politicians who pay lip service to issues like housing and homelessness, but won’t secure the resources needed to address these challenges head-on,” said Marisol Samayoa, a spokesperson for Schiff’s campaign. “That’s why Orange County leaders … overwhelmingly back (Schiff) in this Senate race because they know Californians deserve a senator who will deliver results, not more talking points.”

Polling from Emerson College ahead of the Senate debate showed Schiff maintains a substantial lead over the rest of the field, with Garvey in second. Monday was the first televised debate of the election cycle for Lee, Porter, Schiff and Garvey; another has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 12,  hosted by KTLA.