County budget includes money for installation of cameras near ballot boxes

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Wednesday the Kern County Board of Supervisors finalized the county budget and it includes millions of dollars in funding for upgraded election security.

Camera shy? Well maybe think about mailing in your ballot instead of dropping it off, because as part of the newly approved county budget, cameras are going to be installed outside of ballot drop boxes just like this one around the county.

Aimiee Espinoza, auditor-controller-county clerk and registrar of voters said elections in Kern County have always been secure, but she advocated for new security measures after residents came forward with concerns.

"So the 2.7 is really to increase transparency, improve processes, and then improve security, have extra security."

Espinoza is talking about the $2.7 million in the newly approved budget that will go toward election security.

"We're also doing the cameras at drop boxes. We have 17 locations throughout Kern County and we’re looking to add a few more locations and that's still in the works as far as where they will be located," continued Espinoza.

The money isn’t just going to security cameras.

"So we have a new sorter, which helps us with the actual processing of the vote-by-mail ballots."

The Election Office is also using the money to hire a public information officer, an accountant, and an administrative coordinator. Christian Romo, chair of the Kern County Democratic Party, said there hasn’t been evidence of widespread fraud in the past, but he still supports the changes.

"I've never seen an election where we had these issues. Where we’ve seen a ballot box that is attacked or tampered. But the community members still had some concerns. They wanted those to be addressed. Aimee Espinoza made sure that this was a budget ask and now it is fulfilled and I think that people can feel more secure."

Clayton Campbell, a member of the Republican Central Committee for Kern, supports the county taking measures so the public has confidence in the integrity of elections but points out the cameras might prove that no one tampers with the boxes themselves but they don't address other worries about election security.

"It doesn’t tell us anything about the integrity of the ballot that was put in the box or whether anybody stole somebody else's ballot or forged somebody’s signature."

Campbell says he would prefer there be a larger focus on in-person voting, which he views as more secure than voting by mail. However, Espinoza says that there are many protections in place to make sure no one is voting fraudulently.

"I always encourage people to come straight to the office to learn straight from the horse's mouth, to hear about what security measures we do have in place to secure the election. I think if people knew how secure it really was and all the steps we went through then their confidence in my office would definitely increase."

The next major election is going to be the presidential primary election taking place in March.

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