Congress members tour Riverside County Registrar ahead of Election Day
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) — Three members of Congress visited the Riverside County Registrar of Voters on Thursday to get a firsthand look at how ballots are processed and protected ahead of the November 3 general election.
Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz, Congresswoman Norma Torres and Congressman Mark Takano toured the county’s ballot processing center and spoke with local election officials about election security, voter protections and the process of counting ballots.
During the visit, Torres emphasized the importance of seeing election procedures firsthand, especially amid political rhetoric surrounding elections.
“It is one thing to hear political rhetoric and fear mongering surrounding our elections. It’s another thing to come here to see the process firsthand and hear directly from the people doing the job every day and that’s why congressional oversight matters,” Torres said.
Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel said the county has made changes to its election operations based on feedback and past experiences.
“We hear the rhetoric and sometimes it’s out of not knowing and not knowing that we’ve growth, taken the information and utilized that to make ourselves better,” Spiegel said.
Ruiz also criticized claims of widespread voter fraud involving noncitizens, calling them false. He accused President Donald Trump of fueling doubts about elections and said Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco was contributing to those concerns.
“We have a president doing everything he can to sow confusion, distract and doubts on our election, and we have a sheriff who is doing everything he can to help him. Trump is spreading the lie of rampant voting fraud by noncitizens voting… that’s a lie,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz also addressed voter intimidation, saying voters who feel threatened should contact their local registrar of voters and the California Secretary of State.
“Intimidation is a tactic to suppress a vote. By law, if a person feels they are being intimidated to vote, they call the registrar’s office and the county needs to respond to that to secure the intimidation and the second thing is to call the Secretary of State,” Ruiz said.
He said public confidence in the election process is essential.
“To defend and protect our democracy, we need to have confidence. We need to trust the process,” Ruiz said.
Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco and Assistant Registrar Matthew Ceballos also participated in the visit.
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