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The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors this week heard recommendations on election security, including to reduce the number of ballot drop boxes throughout the county.
The recommendations came Tuesday from the Election Advisory Committee, which was approved by county supervisors in 2023 to provide guidance to the board and the Registrar of Voters office as well as to increase voter confidence and engagement in the electoral process.
Throughout San Joaquin County there are currently 25 drop boxes for ballots but one of the proposed recommendations to the board was to remove those drop boxes and install 13 at fire and police stations.
Holly Moore, a San Joaquin County Republican Party election integrity officer, said the change would cut costs for taxpayers while meeting California laws, and said the placements of the drop boxes would provide greater security.
When Sheriff Pat Withrow was asked by supervisors about his opinion on reducing the number of drop boxes, he said regardless of the number, his staff will be ready to assist with election fraud accountability.
“This system is not perfect and it’s never going to be 100 percent foolproof and our goal here is to do the best we possibly can and to send a message to those who want to mess with our elections,” Withrow said. “The law enforcement agency is sitting there waiting to hold them accountable if it’s found that they are trying to abuse the system.”
The third recommendation to the board was to ask the Sheriff’s Office to investigate fraud that may have occurred at drop boxes in the 2022 election with a capacity of 1,542 ballots officially recorded as holding 3,316, 2,293, 1,865, and 1,693 ballots.
During public comment, Withrow said he was only aware of one case of election fraud in San Joaquin County that his office investigated.
In February 2023, former Lodi City Councilman Shakir Khan had been arrested in connection with voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Khan ultimately pleaded no contest earlier this year and was given two years in county jail.
Sheriff’s officials alleged that during a 2020 search warrant of Khan’s home, they located 41 mail-in ballots and after further investigating, they located about 70 names that were registered to Khan’s home, his email or phone number.
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Khan had also allegedly registered those 70 people to vote.
The final recommendation given to the board in light of the Khan case was to allocate a new position within the Sheriff’s Office to enforce the penal provisions within the California Elections Code.
However, Withrow said he did not think the position was needed at the moment.
“I think we got the team that could handle it at this time,” Withrow said.
The board said they would come back at a later time to discuss whether they will accept the proposals.
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