Fact Check: NO Evidence Of Ballot Cheating During Orange County, California, Bomb Threat Livestream Interruption Or Any Other Time In November 2024
Was there ballot cheating during a bomb threat search when the vote-counting livestream went offline in Orange County, California, in November 2024? No, that’s not true: The Orange County registrar of voters told Lead Stories that “the ballots always remained secure under the custody of the Sheriff’s Department.” There’s also no evidence of fraud at any time during the ballot-counting process.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published on joehoft.com on December 8, 2024, titled “BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: HUGE Ballot Discrepancies Uncovered in Orange County, CA that Could Flip Multiple US House Seats.” The article began:
The 2024 Election results in Orange County, CA make no sense.
The first indication that something was up in Orange County was on Thursday, November 7, two days after the 2024 Election. Concerned citizens warned that ‘Newscum’ had sent people to Orange County and that GOP ballots needed to be cured.
This is what the article looked like on joehoft.com at the time of writing:
(Source: joehoft.com screenshot taken on Mon Dec 9 21:26:29 2024 UTC)
The article didn’t offer any evidence to back up its assertion that ballot cheating happened during the bomb threat when the livestream was offline on November 8, 2024. There’s also no proof of any ballot fraud in general.
And despite the headline’s suggestion that because of “ballot discrepancies” multiple House seats “could flip,” that’s unlikely. Election results (archived here) were officially certified for Orange County on December 3, 2024.
Bomb threats
Orange County was among dozens of locations across the country, including Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, where bomb threats (archived here) were made on Election Day 2024 and in the days immediately following. An FBI statement (archived here) issued on November 5, 2024, said the threats appeared to originate from Russian email domains.
Orange County Registrar of Voters
Asked if any cheating took place while vote counting and the livestream feed was paused during the bomb threat, Orange County Registrar of Voters (ROV) Bob Page answered, “No” in a December 9, 2024, email to Lead Stories. Page continued:
We received a bomb threat by email on the evening on November 8, 2024. The Sheriff’s Department staff on site immediately took control of the scene. They informed us that we would be evacuated to allow the Sheriff’s bomb squad to search the County campus and our entire building.
We stopped processing ballots about 6:45 p.m., which was 15 minutes before our planned stop for the day. …
The Sheriff’s bomb squad completed its search before 8 p.m. [that same day]. …
The ballots always remained secure under the custody of the Sheriff’s Department. It is standard ROV practice that two Sheriff’s deputies guard the building and ballots 24/7. That continued to be the case on the night of the bomb threat.
Page said ROV staff resumed processing vote-by-mail (VBM) and provisional ballots the next morning at 8 a.m. “with observers always present.”
While the livestream feed was offline, video surveillance continued, according to Page. He said:
A separate security camera system in the facility was still operational. It is ROV standard practice to stop broadcasting our separate livestream camera feed when we leave each night. Our livestream cameras were broadcasting when we stopped ballot processing, when the observers were escorted out, and when ROV staff started to leave.
The security camera system keeps a recording of the video it captures. The livestream camera system only broadcasts when turned on and does not record.
To raise more questions about security during the bomb threat, the joehoft.com article referred to a November 9, 2024, story (archived here) also from joehoft.com, with the title: “BREAKING: Bomb Threat at Vote Counting Center in Orange County – White Vans Reportedly Showed Up on Scene.” The second joehoft.com article suggested the timing was suspicious:
It also was reported that after everyone was moved to another building, two F150 vans with whited out windows pulled up to the scene. We are working on confirming this report.
In his email to Lead Stories, Page said, “The white vehicles mentioned in the article were Sheriff’s Department bomb squad vehicles.”
Orange County Sheriff’s Office
The Orange County (OC) Sheriff’s Department said it works with the Registrar of Voters during elections to keep ballot sites and workers safe and did so throughout the ballot counting process. A November 12, 2024, news release (archived here) said deputies would stay on duty at the election office 24/7 from election night until the votes were officially certified. The statement continued (emphasis ours):
The ROV and OC Sheriff determined that an evacuation of the entire building was the most prudent for the safety of all present. The evacuation occurred at 6:45 p.m., just 15 minutes prior to the regular 7 p.m. end time for vote counting. OC Sheriff requested that observers and ROV staff [be] evacuated to different locations on the ROV campus. … Immediately following the evacuation, the ballots remained secure by Sheriff’s deputies who were present to guard the building and ballots throughout the evening until ballot counters and observers arrived the following day.
As noted earlier, election results (archived here) were officially certified on December 3, 2024, for Orange County.
Other election claims
The original joehoft.com article raised five other major questions about Orange County’s 2024 election results. Page addressed each one separately in the email to Lead Stories.
1. Was voter turnout too high to be believable?
Joehoft.com (emphasis theirs):
This resulted in an unbelievable voter turnout of 76.1%. (Any results in an election with voter turnout over 75% are suspect.)
Page’s response:
Voter participation is typically highest during the Presidential General Election. In 2020, the voter turnout was 87.3%.
2. Were there missing or uncounted votes in the presidential race?
Joehoft.com (emphasis theirs):
The total number of votes for President when adding up the votes for all the candidates in the 2024 race in Orange County was only 1,391,307 votes (see below). This is 26,090 votes short of the number of ballots counted in the election. Where did these additional votes go? …
(Source: joehoft.com screenshot taken on Mon Dec 10 19:06:52 2024 UTC)
Page’s response:
Voters are not required to vote in every contest on the ballot. Some voters did not mark a vote in the Presidential contest or voted for more than one candidate or voted for an unqualified write-in candidate.
This also occurred in the 2024 Presidential Primary Election when there were more votes cast in the U.S. Senate Election than the political party Presidential nomination contests combined.
3. Was the number of registered voters correct?
Joehoft.com (emphasis theirs):
Orange County also provides information on the number of individuals eligible to vote and active (having voted in the most recent elections). This report (below) shows 1,901,528 active voters in the county. This is 40,078 voters less than the number of registered voters reported by the county in the report above (1,861,450).
(Source: joehoft.com screenshot taken on Mon Dec 10 19:12:03 2024 UTC)
Page’s response:
In compliance with California law, the number of registered voters included on the Election Results report is the number of active voters in the county by the registration deadline 15 days before Election Day (which was October 21, 2024). As of last night (December 8, 2024), there are now 1.9 million active registered voters in the county.
4. Were too many ballots issued?
Joehoft.com (emphasis theirs):
Orange County also provides information on the number of ballots issued in the 2024 Election. This report (below) shows 2,186,561 ballots issued in the county. This includes vote-by-mail ballots and military and overseas ballots. This is 325,111 ballots more than the number of registered voters reported by the county in the first report above (1,861,450).
How can Orange County send out over 325,000 more ballots than registered voters in the 2024 Election?
(Source: joehoft.com screenshot taken on Mon Dec 10 19:38:46 2024 UTC)
Page’s response:
The first number taken from our Data Central page of our website also includes in-person ballots.
All voters were mailed a ballot. Then some of those requested a replacement vote-by-mail ballot they were issued or checked in at a Vote Center and were issued an in-person ballot.
No matter how many ballots are issued, each registered voter can only cast a single ballot.
5. Were the correct number of ballots counted?
Joehoft.com (emphasis theirs):
Also, a comparison between the number of ballots counted versus the number of ballots received has a material discrepancy. The number of ballots counted is noted in the first chart above (1,417,397). However, according to Orange County’s own report, the number of ballots returned to the county is 1,108,281 ballots. This means 309,116 ballots were counted more than the number of ballots returned in the county.
How can Orange County count 309,000 ballots more than were returned to the county?
(Source: joehoft.com screenshot taken on Mon Dec 10 19:53:02 2024 UTC)
Page’s response:
The first number was taken from our Election Results Report, which includes VBM ballots and Vote Center ballots (including CVR/Provisional ballots). This number is taken from the voting system which counts the number of ballots counted based on the number of ballot A cards scanned.
The second number is taken from our Data Central page of our website, which clearly states it is only VBM ballots returned. It does not include Vote Center ballots. This number is taken from voter participation information on our election management system.
The voting system and election management system are not connected.
Read more
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims concerning the 2024 U.S. presidential election can be found here.
