1 00:00:02,550 --> 00:00:07,109 What the hell is going on in my state of California? 2 00:00:08,270 --> 00:00:10,110 Why don't we have election results yet? 3 00:00:10,379 --> 00:00:11,209 it's a great question. 4 00:00:11,770 --> 00:00:17,200 remember when you used to turn on the TV on election night and by 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,409 the end of election night, maybe even over dinner, you had a pretty 6 00:00:20,409 --> 00:00:22,259 good idea of who was going to win? 7 00:00:22,890 --> 00:00:27,349 And then over time, that ha- that sort of bled into very late at 8 00:00:27,349 --> 00:00:31,250 night, and then sometimes it, it bled into the next morning, right? 9 00:00:31,250 --> 00:00:33,730 You woke up the next morning and you had a new president. 10 00:00:34,229 --> 00:00:37,879 that's changed over time, and when you have a state as large as 11 00:00:37,879 --> 00:00:42,789 California, people get annoyed that they don't know, what's happening. 12 00:00:42,799 --> 00:00:45,330 And again, they think that it means something untoward. 13 00:00:45,749 --> 00:00:49,220 And, and so they get, they get mad at us and they want, they wanna know, 14 00:00:49,230 --> 00:00:53,760 "What the hell is going on over there?" So that's what this episode is about. 15 00:00:54,189 --> 00:00:56,489 it is definitely a departure from my normal content. 16 00:00:56,949 --> 00:00:58,509 and, uh, Prasanna's not even here. 17 00:00:58,509 --> 00:01:00,289 I decided to just do this one on my own. 18 00:01:00,859 --> 00:01:04,419 but, if you're interested in it and you wanna know what's actually happening, 19 00:01:04,939 --> 00:01:06,839 then, you know, this is for you 20 00:01:23,427 --> 00:01:27,627 I am an election worker, and I have, I have actually managed, 21 00:01:27,997 --> 00:01:31,087 the polls at several elections. 22 00:01:31,087 --> 00:01:35,567 I've worked every election since the 2016 presidential primary, which in 23 00:01:35,567 --> 00:01:38,047 California is a bunch of elections, right? 24 00:01:38,047 --> 00:01:40,747 We've had primaries, we've had, presidential elections, 25 00:01:40,747 --> 00:01:42,027 we've had midterm elections. 26 00:01:42,077 --> 00:01:45,117 We had a special election to potentially recall our governor. 27 00:01:45,427 --> 00:01:47,227 We had the Prop 50 election. 28 00:01:47,527 --> 00:01:52,957 I've worked a lot of elections, and I think I have a pretty firm grasp of the 29 00:01:52,957 --> 00:01:59,337 way things are run here in California, and I can especially speak to, with a 30 00:01:59,397 --> 00:02:03,737 great degree of certainty how things run here in San Diego County, which are 31 00:02:03,767 --> 00:02:08,697 indicative of the rest of the state, given that the why we do things the 32 00:02:08,697 --> 00:02:12,027 way we do, i- is driven by state law. 33 00:02:12,367 --> 00:02:13,507 what am I gonna talk about? 34 00:02:13,757 --> 00:02:19,437 first off, m- I'm gonna talk about just, why things are working the way they are, 35 00:02:19,437 --> 00:02:24,057 specifically changes that we made in the election law back about, six years ago. 36 00:02:24,407 --> 00:02:27,137 and one of the things I hear is, Florida does mail-in votes. 37 00:02:27,217 --> 00:02:28,627 Florida can do it in a, in a day. 38 00:02:28,627 --> 00:02:29,737 Why can't California? 39 00:02:30,177 --> 00:02:32,007 there's also this thing called the red mirage. 40 00:02:32,077 --> 00:02:36,577 The red mirage i- is a real thing, uh, and I can explain why it happens, 41 00:02:36,627 --> 00:02:38,707 and, and that it's not fraud. 42 00:02:39,747 --> 00:02:41,287 Sorry to disappoint some of you. 43 00:02:41,587 --> 00:02:46,427 for example, We saw it in the gubernatorial primary where initially 44 00:02:46,447 --> 00:02:52,127 the Republican candidate, which was, uh, Steve Hilton, was ahead, and then 45 00:02:52,137 --> 00:02:57,087 the, the Democratic candidate, Becerra, pulled ahead of him in the polls. 46 00:02:57,087 --> 00:02:58,867 The- so they, they call that the red mirage. 47 00:02:58,957 --> 00:02:59,977 Why does that happen? 48 00:03:00,377 --> 00:03:02,817 and why doesn't any of this mean voter fraud? 49 00:03:02,997 --> 00:03:06,207 and by the way, uh, if you wanna reach out to me, if you wanna talk 50 00:03:06,207 --> 00:03:09,657 to me, if, if you wanna interview me, to talk about this somewhere 51 00:03:09,657 --> 00:03:11,387 else, I'm more than happy to do that. 52 00:03:11,437 --> 00:03:15,677 I believe in what we're doing here in California. 53 00:03:16,037 --> 00:03:17,287 not everything, okay? 54 00:03:17,287 --> 00:03:20,807 I'm not -- Just because I live in California doesn't mean I like everything. 55 00:03:20,807 --> 00:03:21,837 I d- I don't like this. 56 00:03:21,837 --> 00:03:23,797 I don't like having to explain things like this. 57 00:03:24,237 --> 00:03:27,587 I don't like the fact that, you know, my family from afar… I, I spoke 58 00:03:27,587 --> 00:03:29,997 to my father earlier today, and the first thing he said is, you know, 59 00:03:29,997 --> 00:03:31,657 "How's the, how's the counting going?" 60 00:03:31,657 --> 00:03:31,957 Right? 61 00:03:32,617 --> 00:03:33,407 I don't like that. 62 00:03:33,477 --> 00:03:35,217 I don't like the way it makes us look. 63 00:03:35,357 --> 00:03:40,737 but at least I think I can speak to it from a, a certain degree of, of authority. 64 00:03:41,647 --> 00:03:42,967 How did, how did we get here? 65 00:03:43,067 --> 00:03:50,217 So what happened is we made some changes in the, the election law 66 00:03:50,247 --> 00:03:56,357 that allowed us to send a ballot via mail to every registered voter. 67 00:03:56,687 --> 00:04:00,767 prior to that, you had to actually register for a mail-in voting 68 00:04:00,777 --> 00:04:02,757 the way it is in Florida, right? 69 00:04:02,757 --> 00:04:04,387 Where you have to actually request. 70 00:04:04,797 --> 00:04:08,327 Uh, you didn't need a, a reason, but you just, you did have to request 71 00:04:08,327 --> 00:04:10,117 in advance to get a mail ballot. 72 00:04:10,127 --> 00:04:10,727 I did. 73 00:04:10,767 --> 00:04:13,647 I had a mail ballot, prior to, this happening. 74 00:04:14,037 --> 00:04:19,347 But then we started mailing, ballots to every, uh, registered voter, and it… 75 00:04:19,357 --> 00:04:22,947 This was done at the time, COVID had a lot to do with it. 76 00:04:22,957 --> 00:04:26,707 The idea was that people didn't wanna go to the polls, and so we wanted 77 00:04:26,717 --> 00:04:32,747 to allow people to vote and then, it worked, and so we continued, right? 78 00:04:32,797 --> 00:04:34,737 Uh, we basically continued this process. 79 00:04:34,737 --> 00:04:37,937 it wasn't done via some, any sort of executive decision. 80 00:04:38,087 --> 00:04:39,407 We voted on this idea. 81 00:04:39,637 --> 00:04:42,887 Uh, we, and we put this into law that we could do this. 82 00:04:43,247 --> 00:04:48,247 And, the, uh, and the way California law is that As long as the ballot is 83 00:04:48,537 --> 00:04:54,207 mailed and postmarked by election day, specifically by 8:00 PM on election day, 84 00:04:54,927 --> 00:05:02,077 and it's received within seven days of the election, then, it, it will be processed. 85 00:05:02,837 --> 00:05:05,947 so that's the, the two big things that… And that's really 86 00:05:05,947 --> 00:05:06,797 what we're talking about here. 87 00:05:09,047 --> 00:05:13,517 We also made some other changes, which, at least here in San Diego, we went 88 00:05:13,517 --> 00:05:17,407 with what we call the vote center model, where we went with a smaller number of 89 00:05:17,807 --> 00:05:24,447 digitally connected vote centers versus the, thousands of, um, like small places 90 00:05:24,447 --> 00:05:28,987 like garages where you, you had to go to a particular person's, you know, typically 91 00:05:28,987 --> 00:05:33,587 like a person's garage and you would, vote in person and you had to go to a 92 00:05:33,587 --> 00:05:38,757 particular precinct because the printed voter roll, that's where that was, and you 93 00:05:38,757 --> 00:05:43,697 went, you saw your name, you signed your, name next to that, and then, you voted. 94 00:05:44,347 --> 00:05:49,147 the downside to that was if you couldn't get to that one particular 95 00:05:49,147 --> 00:05:52,487 location, you either couldn't vote or you had to vote provisionally, 96 00:05:52,507 --> 00:05:53,947 which nobody wanted to do, right? 97 00:05:53,987 --> 00:05:56,687 Uh, because it, it makes your vote take longer to process and such. 98 00:05:56,687 --> 00:06:00,757 So we went with this vote center model where you can go to, I believe 99 00:06:00,757 --> 00:06:03,537 it was around two hundred and eighty vote centers in San Diego County, 100 00:06:03,987 --> 00:06:06,007 where you could go in person. 101 00:06:06,227 --> 00:06:07,737 We have an electronic poll book. 102 00:06:07,777 --> 00:06:10,917 That poll book, is directly connected via secure connection 103 00:06:10,917 --> 00:06:12,227 to the registrar of voters. 104 00:06:12,687 --> 00:06:17,467 You log in there, and you get a paper ballot, and then that 105 00:06:17,467 --> 00:06:20,177 paper ballot is then treated just like every other paper ballot. 106 00:06:20,627 --> 00:06:22,097 That was another change we made. 107 00:06:22,137 --> 00:06:25,747 But both of these things, the reason why I mentioned that, that other change, 108 00:06:26,067 --> 00:06:29,317 even though it's not relevant to this particular discussion, is that both 109 00:06:29,697 --> 00:06:33,907 of these things were done to increase voter access, to make it easier to vote. 110 00:06:33,947 --> 00:06:37,677 We went with up to eleven days of early voting, which I'm sure some of you think 111 00:06:37,677 --> 00:06:40,497 is ridiculous, but that's what we did. 112 00:06:40,497 --> 00:06:43,197 We went to up to el- you can vote up to eleven days early, 113 00:06:43,197 --> 00:06:45,167 uh, at these, uh, vote centers. 114 00:06:45,547 --> 00:06:50,467 And, um, the, and that was done to accommodate different people's, uh, 115 00:06:50,477 --> 00:06:52,037 working schedules and things like that. 116 00:06:53,167 --> 00:06:56,097 But the big thing, and the thing that's really relevant here 117 00:06:56,127 --> 00:06:58,247 is this mail-in ballot, right? 118 00:06:58,497 --> 00:07:01,467 the, um, it makes it super easy. 119 00:07:01,497 --> 00:07:05,277 Basically, all you have to do is mark your ballot, drop it in the mail, done. 120 00:07:05,467 --> 00:07:08,087 You can just do it right at your house, drop it in your 121 00:07:08,087 --> 00:07:10,027 mailbox, and off the ballot goes. 122 00:07:10,277 --> 00:07:12,017 You can also drop it at a vote center. 123 00:07:12,247 --> 00:07:14,097 You can drop it at a library. 124 00:07:14,097 --> 00:07:17,967 There's all of these, uh, drop boxes that are not handled by the mail system. 125 00:07:18,417 --> 00:07:22,477 They're, they're handled by the Registrar of Voters or the ROV, as I may call it. 126 00:07:23,137 --> 00:07:25,727 so some of you might say, "Well, you're not the only 127 00:07:25,727 --> 00:07:27,067 state that does mail-in ballots. 128 00:07:27,067 --> 00:07:27,777 What about Florida? 129 00:07:27,777 --> 00:07:31,677 Florida has mail ballots, and they, they manage to process them, roughly 130 00:07:31,677 --> 00:07:33,507 by election or maybe the next day. 131 00:07:33,507 --> 00:07:36,787 So why is it that California is so messed up?" is basically 132 00:07:36,787 --> 00:07:38,237 what some of you, might say. 133 00:07:38,787 --> 00:07:39,397 here it is. 134 00:07:39,977 --> 00:07:43,067 The-- When you look at specifically Florida versus California, 135 00:07:43,077 --> 00:07:44,737 the law is very different. 136 00:07:45,407 --> 00:07:51,397 With Florida, your ballot has to get there by seven PM on the night of the election, 137 00:07:51,887 --> 00:07:53,667 or else it will not be processed. 138 00:07:53,677 --> 00:07:58,537 So if you mail the ballot, even if you mailed it early enough for it to 139 00:07:58,597 --> 00:08:03,477 normally get there, and then the mail service is late and delivers your mail 140 00:08:03,477 --> 00:08:07,477 ballot the day after the election, it will not be processed, okay? 141 00:08:07,757 --> 00:08:09,557 That's just the way Florida law works. 142 00:08:10,117 --> 00:08:14,847 whereas in California, as long as you mail it or drop it off by eight 143 00:08:14,847 --> 00:08:20,217 PM on, the election day, Friday, then, uh, it will be processed. 144 00:08:20,237 --> 00:08:24,847 Uh, the signature will be verified and all that stuff, but it will be processed. 145 00:08:25,637 --> 00:08:30,527 And I think those big differences between two laws really explains what's going 146 00:08:30,527 --> 00:08:37,229 on here, and that is The vast majority of voters in Florida, because they 147 00:08:37,229 --> 00:08:41,439 know if they don't mail it in time, their ballot is not gonna get counted, 148 00:08:41,769 --> 00:08:46,099 they mail it early because they don't want the-- they don't trust the mail 149 00:08:46,099 --> 00:08:50,749 system, and so they either drop it off in person early or they mail it early. 150 00:08:50,969 --> 00:08:54,789 And they do that because of that hard, fast, deadline. 151 00:08:55,059 --> 00:08:59,829 In California, I think because they know that it's gonna be up to a 152 00:08:59,829 --> 00:09:02,959 week, and they know that generally speaking, the postal service is gonna 153 00:09:02,959 --> 00:09:07,909 deliver things, within a week, they wait until the last possible minute. 154 00:09:08,509 --> 00:09:10,209 Uh, and I have data to back this up. 155 00:09:10,709 --> 00:09:16,009 But, th- so what people do is, 'cause I've spoken to them, is they watch the 156 00:09:16,009 --> 00:09:19,469 polls, Let's say for example, you're Republican and you were interested 157 00:09:19,469 --> 00:09:21,919 in Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. 158 00:09:22,279 --> 00:09:28,669 a-as the polls sort of got closer to the election, it looked like, Hilton was gonna 159 00:09:28,669 --> 00:09:31,509 have a much better chance of, of winning. 160 00:09:31,779 --> 00:09:35,839 And so you might say, "Well, I like Chad Bianco, but I'm gonna vote for 161 00:09:35,879 --> 00:09:39,279 Steve Hilton instead because he has a much better chance of winning," and 162 00:09:39,279 --> 00:09:43,819 because, by the way, this is also really important, California runs on what's 163 00:09:43,819 --> 00:09:45,809 called, we call it the jungle primary. 164 00:09:45,969 --> 00:09:52,179 The top two getters of votes, um, are what goes to the, the actual election. 165 00:09:52,499 --> 00:09:55,979 if you-- Which means that you're not guaranteed to get a Republican 166 00:09:55,999 --> 00:09:57,539 or a Democrat in the election. 167 00:09:57,549 --> 00:10:01,409 There was a time not that long ago when it looked like we might 168 00:10:01,419 --> 00:10:02,709 have two Republicans in there. 169 00:10:02,709 --> 00:10:06,159 It looked like it might be, uh, Hilton and Bianco as the, 170 00:10:06,169 --> 00:10:07,979 the two people in the election. 171 00:10:07,979 --> 00:10:11,929 There would be no Democrats, and this was because, we had the, the 172 00:10:11,929 --> 00:10:13,939 guy that dropped out, and we had 173 00:10:15,995 --> 00:10:21,025 50-something Democrats running for, uh, governor, and that they were 174 00:10:21,025 --> 00:10:22,375 splitting the vote between all of them. 175 00:10:22,375 --> 00:10:26,745 So there w- there w- there was this worry that you-- that there was gonna be no 176 00:10:26,755 --> 00:10:31,185 Democrats, and then the, then the s- the Republicans are now starting to worry 177 00:10:31,185 --> 00:10:32,345 that there's gonna be no Republicans. 178 00:10:32,345 --> 00:10:34,305 It's because there's a jungle primary, okay? 179 00:10:34,625 --> 00:10:40,095 So people were saying, "You really gotta use your vote strategically." And so they 180 00:10:40,095 --> 00:10:45,445 waited until the last few days before the election to see how are things shaping 181 00:10:45,445 --> 00:10:49,555 up, and they see… And by the way, this is an-- this is based on, this is based 182 00:10:49,555 --> 00:10:54,185 on polls, not election results, because we do not reveal the election results 183 00:10:54,185 --> 00:10:56,595 until after the close of the election. 184 00:10:57,045 --> 00:11:02,065 So just based on polling, people were saying, "Okay, Hilton is looking better 185 00:11:02,065 --> 00:11:05,565 on the Republican side. Becerra's looking better on the, uh, Democrat 186 00:11:05,565 --> 00:11:10,895 side. I'm gonna cast my ballot for one of those because that's the, you 187 00:11:10,895 --> 00:11:14,475 know, this the side I'm on, and I don't want to, quote, 'waste my vote' 188 00:11:14,515 --> 00:11:15,775 on somebody that's not gonna win." 189 00:11:16,535 --> 00:11:21,075 So all of that put together means that a whole bunch of people cast their 190 00:11:21,075 --> 00:11:25,635 ballots at the last minute, and they either dropped it off at a ballot 191 00:11:25,665 --> 00:11:30,815 station or, uh, they either dropped it off at a vote center or a drop box, or 192 00:11:30,815 --> 00:11:37,265 they dropped it in the mail and so the result was when you look at-- Uh, again, 193 00:11:37,265 --> 00:11:38,755 I'll speak to just San Diego County. 194 00:11:39,895 --> 00:11:44,145 When I looked at the number of ballots, It looks based on what 195 00:11:44,145 --> 00:11:48,845 I saw that they can process about eighty thousand to a hundred thousand 196 00:11:49,315 --> 00:11:52,325 ballots per day in San Diego County. 197 00:11:52,595 --> 00:11:54,855 This is verifying the signature, right? 198 00:11:54,885 --> 00:11:59,065 the ballot shows up, they take an image of that signature across… 199 00:11:59,085 --> 00:12:00,765 That's on one side of the ROV. 200 00:12:00,765 --> 00:12:03,075 On the other side, there's this, large room full of 201 00:12:03,075 --> 00:12:04,715 people who are just doing this. 202 00:12:04,955 --> 00:12:07,165 They have an image of the signature from the ballot. 203 00:12:07,635 --> 00:12:11,775 Uh, the, the-- there's a barcode that identifies who that ballot is associated 204 00:12:11,775 --> 00:12:15,535 with, which then allows the system to pull up all of the images that they 205 00:12:15,535 --> 00:12:19,225 have, on that person, and then they, they do a signature verification. 206 00:12:19,645 --> 00:12:23,655 So they're doing that one ballot at a time, one person at a time, 207 00:12:23,895 --> 00:12:26,985 and they can do about eighty to a hundred thousand ballots, a day. 208 00:12:27,645 --> 00:12:30,375 And they'll start processing them as soon as they come in. 209 00:12:30,385 --> 00:12:34,395 But the problem is we got… In San Diego County alone, we got eight hundred 210 00:12:34,395 --> 00:12:39,215 thousand ballots, and most of those came in, based on what I saw, most 211 00:12:39,215 --> 00:12:43,085 of those, about six hundred thousand of them, my best estimate, about six 212 00:12:43,085 --> 00:12:46,915 hundred thousand of them came in on or about the day of the election. 213 00:12:47,435 --> 00:12:50,515 And so they're processing them at about eighty to a 214 00:12:50,515 --> 00:12:52,465 hundred thousand ballots a day. 215 00:12:53,035 --> 00:12:58,815 And as of this recording, which is, Sunday, June 7th, they still 216 00:12:58,815 --> 00:13:02,435 have about two hundred thousand ballots to go because, again, 217 00:13:02,515 --> 00:13:03,825 eighty to a hundred thousand a day. 218 00:13:04,305 --> 00:13:06,815 and, um, and that's why it's taking so long. 219 00:13:06,885 --> 00:13:10,775 Is there-- is it because of the way the laws work and because of 220 00:13:10,775 --> 00:13:12,465 the way the voter behavior is? 221 00:13:12,465 --> 00:13:15,755 The vast majority of them show up at the last minute, and then we 222 00:13:15,755 --> 00:13:17,415 have to process them one by one. 223 00:13:17,415 --> 00:13:18,675 It's isn't about counting. 224 00:13:18,695 --> 00:13:20,235 Counting will take minutes. 225 00:13:20,605 --> 00:13:23,865 Literally, once they get all of these ballots, as soon as 226 00:13:23,865 --> 00:13:26,805 they, they process ballots, the counting is done automatically. 227 00:13:26,805 --> 00:13:30,985 That's done via, uh, you know, machines that count ballots, okay? 228 00:13:31,485 --> 00:13:33,925 Then there's what's called the red mirage. 229 00:13:34,205 --> 00:13:34,925 What is that? 230 00:13:35,265 --> 00:13:40,715 this really started happening back in the 2020, election. 231 00:13:41,725 --> 00:13:44,085 and, I'm gonna make some statements that some of you won't 232 00:13:44,085 --> 00:13:45,215 agree with, and that's fine. 233 00:13:45,875 --> 00:13:51,370 But just a statement of fact is that, President Trump As it looked like he 234 00:13:51,370 --> 00:13:56,770 might lose the 2020 election, he made a number of statements, that were 235 00:13:56,890 --> 00:13:59,930 very much against mail-in voting. 236 00:14:00,690 --> 00:14:03,850 since that day and all the way up to today, right? 237 00:14:03,950 --> 00:14:08,890 President Trump has continued to be against mail-in voting, 238 00:14:09,460 --> 00:14:12,420 or at least mass mail-in voting the way we do in California. 239 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,970 He doesn't like it, and he's made his followers know that 240 00:14:15,990 --> 00:14:20,250 he doesn't like it, which means that they tend to vote in person. 241 00:14:20,940 --> 00:14:23,250 I see it myself when I work the polls. 242 00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:27,800 A lot of people make it known that they're Republican and that that's why they think 243 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,640 they should vote on Election Day and they should think they should vote in person. 244 00:14:31,050 --> 00:14:34,120 They're not a big fan of the mail-in ballots. 245 00:14:34,130 --> 00:14:41,800 So what that does is the, is that those ballots, they either vote very early or 246 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:47,290 they vote in person, which what that does is it creates a big batch of early ballots 247 00:14:47,290 --> 00:14:52,280 that are counted because the votes that go to the vote centers get counted first. 248 00:14:52,890 --> 00:14:54,050 And so, the… 249 00:14:54,060 --> 00:14:59,960 you, you get a scenario like you had with our governor race, where initially Steve 250 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:04,690 Hiltzen was out ahead, and then as they continued to process the mail ballots 251 00:15:04,710 --> 00:15:07,490 were disproportionately, uh, Democratic. 252 00:15:07,490 --> 00:15:10,840 And so the… so then Becerra pulled ahead. 253 00:15:11,690 --> 00:15:15,330 It's not due to fraud, it's just due to the fact that more Republicans 254 00:15:15,330 --> 00:15:19,970 vote in person or early, and, uh, the Democrats vote generally by mail and 255 00:15:19,970 --> 00:15:22,980 are often, uh, being very strategic as to when they mail their ballot, 256 00:15:23,010 --> 00:15:24,390 and they often mail it very late. 257 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:26,410 That's all it is, right? 258 00:15:26,460 --> 00:15:30,680 So that's, that's what the mire- the red mirage is about. 259 00:15:31,570 --> 00:15:35,876 But this process simply takes a long time. 260 00:15:35,886 --> 00:15:39,996 Like I said, in San Diego County, they're doing 80 to 100,000 signature 261 00:15:39,996 --> 00:15:44,456 validations every single day, and they've got about 800,000 to get through. 262 00:15:44,726 --> 00:15:46,566 They started a few days before elections. 263 00:15:46,566 --> 00:15:49,896 It looked like ballots started show-- the vast majority of ballots showed up 264 00:15:49,956 --> 00:15:51,536 a couple of days before the election. 265 00:15:51,856 --> 00:15:53,096 They processed those. 266 00:15:53,596 --> 00:15:56,676 Uh, they then continued another, uh, 80 to 100,000 a day. 267 00:15:56,906 --> 00:15:58,436 They've got about 200,000 left. 268 00:15:58,756 --> 00:16:05,356 And so I would estimate by possibly late Tuesday, maybe early Wednesday, uh, they 269 00:16:05,356 --> 00:16:07,136 will have processed all the signatures. 270 00:16:07,436 --> 00:16:09,326 Counting the ballots is easy. 271 00:16:09,596 --> 00:16:12,696 That goes very quickly, And then what happens is you have 272 00:16:12,696 --> 00:16:15,036 the unofficial count, right? 273 00:16:15,186 --> 00:16:18,596 Uh, the news will report on… The news is already reporting that Becerra is 274 00:16:18,616 --> 00:16:20,186 going to advance to the general election. 275 00:16:20,216 --> 00:16:23,926 That is the news, and that is a statistical probability, not 276 00:16:23,946 --> 00:16:26,086 anything official that comes from the count- the state. 277 00:16:26,966 --> 00:16:30,316 But then what happens is, and, and again, I think it's important for 278 00:16:30,316 --> 00:16:34,766 you to understand that we do use computers to count the ballots, right? 279 00:16:35,106 --> 00:16:38,426 But here's the thing, we d- we… It's a trust but verify. 280 00:16:38,426 --> 00:16:40,526 there's a Ronald Reagan quote for you there. 281 00:16:40,816 --> 00:16:45,506 what if there's a, a supply chain attack on, uh, the, the 282 00:16:45,506 --> 00:16:47,466 systems that count the ballots? 283 00:16:47,586 --> 00:16:51,026 What if they're, when they count, they throw every third 284 00:16:51,036 --> 00:16:52,236 ballot or whatever, right? 285 00:16:52,506 --> 00:16:54,926 and th- this was something that was alleged back, during the 286 00:16:54,926 --> 00:16:58,996 2020 election that, that… uh, and it was alleged, um, a lot. 287 00:16:59,316 --> 00:17:02,606 and, so how do we validate that? 288 00:17:02,646 --> 00:17:03,996 That's what the 1% is for. 289 00:17:04,516 --> 00:17:07,126 So the 1% check, we pull roughly 1%. 290 00:17:07,296 --> 00:17:11,366 I say roughly 1%, it's because it's based on pulling of cartons, not ballots. 291 00:17:11,776 --> 00:17:14,856 I don't wanna go into too much detail, but roughly 1% of the ballots. 292 00:17:15,056 --> 00:17:19,146 And then those ballots are counted carton by carton, ballot by ballot, 293 00:17:19,536 --> 00:17:24,096 and compared against the, the machine results for that carton. 294 00:17:24,676 --> 00:17:27,186 And, uh, it's done by human beings. 295 00:17:27,226 --> 00:17:31,276 One person sitting at the head of the table reading the, the ballots, right? 296 00:17:31,326 --> 00:17:36,516 and then, uh, two other people, uh, doing a manual tally of each race, right? 297 00:17:36,926 --> 00:17:40,006 And then, and then they add it all up, and then this person gives their 298 00:17:40,006 --> 00:17:42,506 number, this person gives their number, and then this should match. 299 00:17:42,516 --> 00:17:44,076 the results from the machine, 300 00:17:44,346 --> 00:17:45,576 If they don't, then guess what? 301 00:17:45,596 --> 00:17:46,706 They do it all over again. 302 00:17:47,406 --> 00:17:52,956 and so any of the kind of things that, that California is being accused of, um, 303 00:17:52,996 --> 00:17:57,296 and other systems are being accused of, that this would find any systemic issues. 304 00:17:57,606 --> 00:18:00,146 So that takes time, right? 305 00:18:00,296 --> 00:18:03,256 Verifying, in the case of San Diego County, eight hundred 306 00:18:03,256 --> 00:18:05,416 thousand signatures, takes time. 307 00:18:05,626 --> 00:18:08,926 By the way, I did see a- another number, and that was that only 308 00:18:08,936 --> 00:18:15,476 thirty thousand ballots today, which is, um, let's see, by s- Friday. 309 00:18:15,936 --> 00:18:19,436 So we had the election on Tuesday, so Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 310 00:18:19,456 --> 00:18:23,466 only thirty thousand ballots were received after election day. 311 00:18:23,466 --> 00:18:25,896 We're talking eight hundred thousand ballots, most of them 312 00:18:26,186 --> 00:18:27,656 received before election day. 313 00:18:27,856 --> 00:18:30,676 So it's not even this whole thing about whether we should or shouldn't 314 00:18:30,866 --> 00:18:32,486 get ballots after election day. 315 00:18:32,516 --> 00:18:35,836 The problem is human nature is causing them to wait till the last 316 00:18:35,836 --> 00:18:38,326 possible minute, causing all the ballots to show up all, all at the 317 00:18:38,346 --> 00:18:41,186 same time, and then we gotta verify them, and it takes a long time. 318 00:18:41,356 --> 00:18:47,352 So that's why, what is happening is happening and, um, uh, you 319 00:18:47,352 --> 00:18:48,522 know, just a couple of things. 320 00:18:48,592 --> 00:18:52,502 Again, California is following California law, right? 321 00:18:52,592 --> 00:18:55,582 Uh, I, I think it's also important to note other important things 322 00:18:55,582 --> 00:18:59,152 that, like, no ballot is ever left in the, the custody of one person. 323 00:18:59,472 --> 00:19:03,602 There is a chain of custody for every single ballot from w- uh, when it's 324 00:19:03,612 --> 00:19:07,772 created to when it's, transported to what we call it, which is DART, 325 00:19:07,772 --> 00:19:11,142 which it's a centralized team that then takes the ballots for that. 326 00:19:11,142 --> 00:19:13,722 So in our area, I'm in-- I was at Bonsall. 327 00:19:14,012 --> 00:19:16,632 our DART team is in, uh, Fallbrook. 328 00:19:16,892 --> 00:19:20,862 We have two people that leave our vote center at the end of each day to take the 329 00:19:20,862 --> 00:19:24,862 ballots and escort them over to a team of two, who are then… They're collecting 330 00:19:24,862 --> 00:19:28,362 the ballots from that area, and th- they, they take that and take it down. 331 00:19:28,362 --> 00:19:30,402 So it's always two people with the ballots. 332 00:19:30,402 --> 00:19:36,112 And also the ballots are tracked from the, Each vote center has three 333 00:19:36,112 --> 00:19:37,352 numbers that they get to check. 334 00:19:37,912 --> 00:19:40,972 We know, we have a number that shows us how many people checked into the 335 00:19:40,972 --> 00:19:42,612 electronic poll books, the EPPs. 336 00:19:42,932 --> 00:19:46,052 We have a number that shows us how many people printed ballots out from 337 00:19:46,072 --> 00:19:48,032 the BMPs, the ballot marking devices. 338 00:19:48,332 --> 00:19:52,282 And then we have how many ballots are physically in our hands, and those 339 00:19:52,282 --> 00:19:53,842 numbers should all match, right? 340 00:19:54,212 --> 00:19:55,842 And by the… We also seal, by the way. 341 00:19:55,892 --> 00:19:57,942 We seal the cartons before they leave, right? 342 00:19:58,312 --> 00:20:02,472 so there'd be no way for, even if two people wanted to somehow 343 00:20:02,472 --> 00:20:03,702 collude and stuff ballots. 344 00:20:03,712 --> 00:20:07,122 So the numbers wouldn't match, the seal would be broken. 345 00:20:07,132 --> 00:20:08,842 The seal is signed by everybody. 346 00:20:09,062 --> 00:20:12,772 There's a cust- a chain of custody from the moment that ballot, uh, 347 00:20:12,772 --> 00:20:17,432 is created to all the way into the end, over there, in the ROV. 348 00:20:17,742 --> 00:20:20,432 I saw some crazy things in the last couple of days following stuff on 349 00:20:20,432 --> 00:20:24,102 Facebook, and one of them was about our newest law, which, you know, they 350 00:20:24,102 --> 00:20:28,352 said, "Well, it prevents, uh, outside people, prevents law enforcement from 351 00:20:28,362 --> 00:20:30,662 observing the election." That is nonsense. 352 00:20:30,852 --> 00:20:32,432 That is not what that law said. 353 00:20:32,892 --> 00:20:36,912 What the law said was that what that sheriff did, in Riverside County, 354 00:20:36,932 --> 00:20:41,932 I believe it was, where he seized the ballots and had them in his 355 00:20:41,962 --> 00:20:44,772 own possession outside of the ROV. 356 00:20:45,022 --> 00:20:47,622 That's what we specifically made illegal. 357 00:20:47,912 --> 00:20:52,122 we basically said that is, illegal to seize ballots in that way. 358 00:20:52,692 --> 00:20:53,282 but guess what? 359 00:20:53,302 --> 00:20:55,112 That same sheriff could come… 360 00:20:55,432 --> 00:20:59,492 You can go, any person, including law enforcement, including anyone 361 00:20:59,492 --> 00:21:02,842 who distrusts the systems, can go to, at any point and observe 362 00:21:03,262 --> 00:21:04,572 the system from beginning to end. 363 00:21:04,572 --> 00:21:06,392 And by the way, we get observers all the time. 364 00:21:07,212 --> 00:21:11,132 So the entire process has a great chain of custody, has observers all 365 00:21:11,132 --> 00:21:14,632 the time, has people digging into the numbers to figure out, you know, if, 366 00:21:14,662 --> 00:21:17,622 if anything like, like dead people voting, that whole, that whole thing. 367 00:21:17,902 --> 00:21:21,392 But some- I just, just had a discussion online with somebody who's like, "Yeah, 368 00:21:21,392 --> 00:21:24,962 but dead people are getting, ballots because of the way we do things." 369 00:21:24,992 --> 00:21:28,542 Yes, dead people are sent ballots. 370 00:21:28,752 --> 00:21:30,842 They're not getting ballots, but they're sent ballots. 371 00:21:31,412 --> 00:21:32,582 but here's what's not happening. 372 00:21:32,602 --> 00:21:36,384 The dead people aren't voting You, you don't have to trust me. 373 00:21:36,414 --> 00:21:38,064 Go check out the Heritage Foundation. 374 00:21:38,074 --> 00:21:40,884 They did an investigation into, like, a whole bunch of things, and 375 00:21:40,894 --> 00:21:42,244 they didn't find this kind of thing. 376 00:21:42,554 --> 00:21:46,284 There's, there's allegations that this is happening all the time, uh, and 377 00:21:46,284 --> 00:21:49,454 it's… it just isn't happening, at least not in any significant numbers 378 00:21:49,454 --> 00:21:53,104 to do, You know, did one or two, quote-unquote, "dead people" vote? 379 00:21:53,694 --> 00:21:54,314 Possibly. 380 00:21:54,664 --> 00:21:59,514 but, because basically where that even could happen is where you get a ballot. 381 00:22:00,144 --> 00:22:01,864 it would have to be really purposeful. 382 00:22:01,864 --> 00:22:06,634 But, like, i-i-if a quote-unquote, "dead person" could try to vote by, let's 383 00:22:06,634 --> 00:22:10,254 say you have a husband and wife, the wife has passed, the husband gets the 384 00:22:10,254 --> 00:22:12,674 ballot, and he signs his wife's name. 385 00:22:13,424 --> 00:22:16,624 Theoretically, that would cause the dead person to vote. 386 00:22:16,754 --> 00:22:17,384 But guess what? 387 00:22:17,724 --> 00:22:19,324 That's not happening, right? 388 00:22:19,544 --> 00:22:23,184 What could happen is, you could see someone trying to vote, and 389 00:22:23,194 --> 00:22:24,674 just grabbing their wife's ballot. 390 00:22:24,674 --> 00:22:25,184 But guess what? 391 00:22:25,204 --> 00:22:28,994 Each mailed ballot has a barcode that identifies what voter that is. 392 00:22:28,994 --> 00:22:33,544 So if he opens up the wrong ballot and signs it, then that would look 393 00:22:33,554 --> 00:22:37,174 like a dead person tried to vote, when in reality it was just, the 394 00:22:37,174 --> 00:22:38,634 person grabbing the wrong ballot. 395 00:22:39,854 --> 00:22:43,484 Uh, but the sig- the signature wouldn't match, so ultimately 396 00:22:43,484 --> 00:22:44,714 that person would not get to vote. 397 00:22:45,874 --> 00:22:47,904 anyway, I hope this is helpful. 398 00:22:48,394 --> 00:22:53,454 I just wanted to help explain why is California so different 399 00:22:53,684 --> 00:22:55,214 than, let's say, Florida. 400 00:22:55,664 --> 00:22:58,394 th-there is a significantly higher number of votes. 401 00:22:58,394 --> 00:23:02,944 There is a significantly higher percentage of votes that come in by mail, eighty 402 00:23:02,944 --> 00:23:07,474 percent in California versus twenty-one percent in Florida, that from the last 403 00:23:07,474 --> 00:23:08,954 election that I could get numbers for. 404 00:23:09,544 --> 00:23:14,344 and, and because of the way the laws are, they come in at the last 405 00:23:14,364 --> 00:23:19,084 minute, and it takes a long time to do signature verification on 406 00:23:19,094 --> 00:23:20,844 millions and millions of votes. 407 00:23:21,314 --> 00:23:26,204 if you have questions, post them on YouTube, and, um, I hope this helps. 408 00:23:26,552 --> 00:23:27,212 That's a wrap 409 00:23:30,270 --> 00:23:34,990 The Backup Wrap-Up is written, recorded, and produced by me, W. Curtis Preston. 410 00:23:35,550 --> 00:23:40,320 If you need backup or DR consulting, content generation, or expert witness 411 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:43,120 work, check out backupcentral.com. 412 00:23:43,630 --> 00:23:46,690 You can also find links for my O'Reilly books on the same website. 413 00:23:47,420 --> 00:23:51,370 Remember, this is an independent podcast, and any opinions that 414 00:23:51,380 --> 00:23:55,370 you hear are those of the speaker and not necessarily an employer. 415 00:23:56,230 --> 00:23:56,890 Thanks for listening