California investigating after secret filming shows 'Trump Store' employees saying they collect votes in unofficial ballot box
Undercover video taken at a Republican campaign headquarters in California shows employees discussing an operation to collect ballots for 3 Novemberâs election from unofficial ballot boxes.
The video, shot at the campaign headquartersâ âTrump Store,â which sells merchandise featuring the president, also recorded the staff offering to store ballots for people in a safe, because the box had been moved off the premises.
The video, which was filmed at a GOP location in Newport Beach, California, and obtained by Vice News, was sent alongside a complaint to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
The video starts by showing the shop, which is filled with merchandise for President Trump, including Make America Great Again hats and Blue Lives Matter flags.
The woman filming the video then covers the lens and asks staff members if a ballot box is located in the shop.
One of the staff members replies âyesâ while another reassures the woman that âitâs very safeâ for the ballot to be dropped off there.
The woman then says that she previously saw ballot boxes in the headquarters, and one of the staff members replies: âRight, so itâs being delivered,â as the other adds: âThey physically pick up the box and take it and deliver it.â
The staff member then says that if the ballot box is being delivered then âwe lock it in our safe.â
The woman then asks multiple questions about how she can be sure her vote has been counted, saying: âI hate to be so paranoid,â but one of the employees replies: âBetter to be paranoid than to, you know, throw your vote away.â
In the complaint sent to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, the unnamed woman sent a picture of the ballot box she took the day before.
She said that when she went back the next day: âThe box was gone from the sales floor, but I was told by two people working that I could hand them my ballot because they have an official ballot box in the back of the store in a safe. I shot this video of them explaining.â
The woman added: âPLEASE INVESTIGATE!!!â The video and complaint were sent to the registrar Neal Kelley.
Libby Huyck, the chair of the Newport Harbor Republican Women group which runs the store, told Vice in a statement on Tuesday: âWe take the ballots just like all the other places, and we donât have an official ballot box, we have an unofficial ballot box. We put [the ballots] immediately into the safe.â
She then claimed: âWe have the left stealing votes left and right. Itâs just a matter of getting a grand jury to come in and investigate which they will once Trump is re-elected.â
Sam Mahood, the spokesperson for California secretary of state Alex Padilla, said: âThis will be looked at as part of our on-going investigation with the California Department of Justice.â
Mr Mahood was referring to the investigation launched by Mr Padilla regarding reports of unofficial ballot drop boxes being situated in Republican offices in California.
More than 50 boxes labelled âOfficial Ballot Drop off Boxâ or âBallot Drop Box,â were placed outside Republican Party offices, near churches and outside gun shops in California in early October, according to the New York Times.
The California Republican Party admitted owning the misleading drop boxes for mail-in ballots, but claimed that they were permitted under a 2016 law allowing California voters to designate someone to return their ballot on their behalf.
Hector Barajas, a spokesman for the California Republican Party, told the New York Times: âThere is nothing in any of the laws or regulations cited in that advisory that indicate private organisation drop boxes are not permitted.â
He added that âthe way Democrats wrote the law, if we wanted to use a Santa bag, we could,â but commented that âa locked heavy box seems a lot safer.â
However, Mr Padilla and attorney general Xavier Becerra then sent a cease-and-desist order to the party and ordered them to remove the drop boxes.
Mr Padilla added: âNever hand your ballot over to someone you donât trust. Official county drop boxes are built with specific security protections, and ballots are retrieved only by designated county personnel.â
Mr Barajas told the New York Times that the party would continue to place the boxes across the state, and would not explicitly identify them as Republican drops.
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California GOP admits owning misleading unofficial ballot drop boxes