How Southern California elections officials are preparing for the 2026 midterms — and any potential disruptions

For Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters Dean Logan, this summer will mark 20 years of working for the local elections office.

By now, he’s used to drawing up contingency plans just in case a disaster — a fire or earthquake, a cybersecurity attack, a protest or other incident — disrupts the voting process.

But in more recent elections, he’s had to consider new scenarios: What happens if the federal government sends law enforcement agents to voting locations or insists on other actions that could intimidate voters?

Logan isn’t the only one wrestling with such questions these days.

Across Southern California and the rest of the state, local election officials are thinking through such possibilities in light of recent comments by President Donald Trump that Republicans should “nationalize” elections and take over the administration of them — a task currently handled by states.

“President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered non-citizen voters,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email on Friday, Feb. 13.

“The president has also urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting to ensure the safety and security of our elections,” she added.

Election officials and experts generally agree that voter fraud is exceedingly rare.

In addition to the president’s recent remarks, Steve Bannon, who worked in the Trump administration during the president’s first term, has suggested sending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and military personnel to voting locations for this fall’s midterm elections.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently told reporters she couldn’t guarantee that an ICE agent would not be around voting locations in November, but said she had not heard the president discuss any formal plans to place ICE agents outside such sites.

Still, election officials in California are on their guard, including for the June primary elections.

Logan said comments about possibly “nationalizing” elections or sending immigration or other federal law enforcement officials to voting locations are “concerning.”

“Those are things that we would view as potentially intimidating voters, discouraging voters from participating in the election. And depending on how those were carried out, probably activities that violate California election laws,” Logan said.

For local election offices in Southern California, this isn’t the first time they’ve had to contend with the question of how to respond should immigration agents or other federal workers show up at or near vote centers.

Ahead of last November’s special redistricting election, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would send election monitors to five counties in California, including Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside. That in turn led California Attorney General Rob Bonta to announce that the state would send its own people to keep an eye on the federal monitors.

In the end, nothing much came of the hoopla over federal monitors and speculations about whether ICE agents would show up at or near voting locations.

Still, local county registrar offices know that each election, they need to think ahead about how to handle possible disruptions.

Orange County Registrar Bob Page said his office works closely with the county sheriff’s and district attorney’s offices, as well as other local, state and federal law enforcement officials, “to ensure every election is safe and voting locations are free of electioneering and intimidation.”

Page said his office makes sure law enforcement is aware of where all their voting locations are so that they can respond quickly if necessary, and a Sheriff’s deputy or sergeant is stationed in the registrar’s command center when vote centers are open. In addition, representatives from the local DA’s office are available to respond quickly to incidents like voter intimidation.

Should there be some sort of law enforcement activity in the neighborhood, a vote center will go under lockdown to keep the voters and poll workers who are inside safe.

“If law enforcement activity impacts a vote center in this election, we will again keep everyone in the vote center safe and be ready to make further arrangements if a lockdown persists for an extended period of time,” he said, adding that if a vote center is closed for a long period of time, there will be other voting locations that voters can go to throughout the county.

In the Inland Empire, the San Bernardino County elections office “train(s) poll workers to keep polling places and early voting locations free from electioneering and any attempts to compromise the voting process,” spokesperson Melissa Eickman said via email.

“In addition, we coordinate with local law enforcement before Election Day to ensure a quick response if needed. Our goal is for every voter to cast their ballot privately, without interference, and free from intimidation.”

Riverside County “remains committed to conducting safe, secure, and accurate elections in accordance with applicable federal and state laws,” Elizabeth Florer, spokesperson for the county’s registrar’s office, said via email.

She added: “Election planning includes preparing for a wide range of operational scenarios while protecting the integrity of the voting process and voter participation.”

In L.A. County, Logan said his office is focused on educating voters about their options, which include not only voting by mail but also casting ballots at any vote center within the county.

So, if someone suspects that immigration agents are stationed at or near a vote center, or is concerned about running into federal officials asking to see people’s IDs, for example, the person can go to another voting location where they feel more comfortable casting their ballot.

His office will also focus on training election workers on situational awareness and de-escalation tactics, and to document anything that happens for the record. He said the offices of California’s secretary of state and attorney general have indicated they plan to have legal resources available to the counties.

After two decades of administering elections in L.A. County, Logan said it’s “definitely different” preparing for elections in 2026 due to the current political climate.

Even though concerns about possible chaos during last fall’s special election did not materialize, he said, one can’t assume that will be the case again this year.

“We have to be prepared either way and hope that the recognition of the importance of free and fair elections will prevail,” Logan said.

That said, he added, “If there is disruptive activity, we will actively document that so that if that has to be addressed after the election, we’re prepared to do that.”