Santa Clara Co.: Bomb Threat Disrupts Vote Count At Santa Clara County Registrar Of Voters Office

Bay City News

The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Office was evacuated on Saturday morning after a bomb threat that was sent on Friday evening by email was seen by an employee.

Four K9 units from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, and Stanford Department of Public Safety responded to the building at 8:17 a.m., according to Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Brooks Jarosz.

About 100 employees who were inside still counting and processing votes from Tuesday’s general election were evacuated by the time sheriff’s deputies responded minutes after they were dispatched, Jarosz said.

“We should applaud the Registrar of Voters Office because immediately after they saw this threat, they evacuated the building before we even arrived,” Jarosz said.

He said a security perimeter was set up around the building while the K9 teams made a thorough search of the building, going room to room, but did not find anything suspicious as of 1 p.m.

Registrar’s staff will be allowed back into the building once the search, which was nearly finished as of 1 p.m. is complete.

There were about 192,000 ballots still to be processed as of Friday at 5 p.m., according to the Registrar of Voters Office

The bomb threat was sent via email to the Registrar of Voters Office sometime Friday evening, according to Jarosz, but it wasn’t seen until this morning. He said he could not elaborate on its origins, but that the message implied harm would come to those inside the building.

The bomb scare comes after multiple bomb threats were received in Georgia and other polling places around the country on Election Day, according to the FBI.

“The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains. None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the FBI said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Election integrity is among the FBI’s highest priorities. We will continue to work closely with our state and local law enforcement partners to respond to any threats to our elections and to protect our communities as Americans exercise their right to vote,” the statement said.

There was no indication that the threat against the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Office fit that pattern, but Jarosz said the Sheriff’s Office was ready to respond to such threats.

“We are always prepared to respond to any kinds of threats that would hurt people in the communities we serve or undermine fundamental democratic rights,” he said.

He said the Sheriff’s Office bomb squad was notified but was not ultimately dispatched because nothing suspicious had been found by the K9 teams.

The bomb threat disrupting the vote count at the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office reflects the heightened tensions and security challenges surrounding election processes. Such incidents underscore the importance of safeguarding the democratic process and ensuring that election workers and facilities are protected from threats and interruptions. This disruption highlights the potential impact of fear and intimidation tactics on the integrity and timeliness of vote counting, emphasizing the need for robust security measures to protect electoral staff and ensure that vote counts proceed transparently and without delay. It also reinforces the commitment to upholding the electoral process despite attempts to destabilize it.

The bomb threat that interrupted the vote count at the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office underscores the intense pressures and security risks facing election offices. Such threats not only disrupt essential democratic processes but also place election workers and volunteers at risk, highlighting the importance of strong security protocols to protect both personnel and the integrity of the vote. Incidents like this one illustrate attempts to undermine public confidence in elections, emphasizing the need for vigilance and resilience in defending democratic institutions. The continued commitment to a transparent, accurate vote count despite such obstacles reaffirms the strength of the electoral process.