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Mina Kim: Welcome to Forum. I’m Mina Kim. Concerns have been building over whether the midterm elections will be free and fair. But in recent weeks, those worries have intensified after the FBI seized ballots and voter rolls in Fulton County, and President Trump this month floated nationalizing elections on the podcast of former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino.
Dan Bongino (clip): The Republicans should say, we want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least many—fifteen—places. The Republicans are to nationalize the voting. And then we have states that are so crooked, and they’re counting votes. We have states that I won that show I didn’t win.
Mina Kim: The president’s drumbeat of false claims of a stolen 2020 election, as well as continued claims of illegal voting and mail-in ballot fraud, are being felt at the local level by elections officials and voters.
Listeners—do you worry about election interference? Have you contemplated getting more involved in this year’s election?
Joining me first is Natalie Adona, registrar of voters for Marin County. Natalie, thanks so much for being with us.
Natalie Adona: Thanks for the invite. Glad to be here.
Mina Kim: Are you hearing from voters worried about the safety and security of elections in light of recent events? And what are you telling them, if so?
Natalie Adona: Yeah, I have heard more often now that the June primary is starting to feel real for us in California. Some voters are expressing concerns about what they’re hearing in the news about the election.
What I’m telling them is: please come to us—and I thank them for coming to us—because we are the primary source of information on how the elections process works. There are several elements of the law that are important for them to know, and I think that’s grounding for them.
For example, there is the Constitution of the United States, which squarely puts responsibility for election administration with the states. Election officials such as myself take an oath to follow the law—not only state law, but also federal laws that define election administration in this country.
I’ve also heard concerns from voters about whether immigration agents or a federal presence will show up at voting locations. In California, there are laws against having uniformed officers—or anyone posing as a uniformed officer—stationing themselves at a voting location. That includes polling places and drop boxes. It is unlawful for anybody, law enforcement or not, to interfere with the elections process and the orderly conduct of an election. That applies to voting equipment, ballots, and also the people running the election.
I’ve heard feedback from voters, and the response is largely positive—they’re glad there are laws on the books. But we’ll see how things develop. I noticed today there was a survey showing low confidence leading up to the election about whether the process will be fair. So yes, it’s an active conversation we’re having with voters here.
Mina Kim: Yes. I hear that if people are concerned about whether the process will be fair—whether ballots could be tampered with or seized—you invite people to come and watch the ballot counting on election day, for example, or the days after. What would they see? Can you demystify the process briefly—things that might give them assurance?
Natalie Adona: Sure. It depends on what stage of the process you’re coming into. I encourage folks to come in when there’s something to see. You can come in anytime for a tour of the office, but it’s more exciting when you can actually see us processing ballots.
In California, we send out ballots 29 days before the election. We’ll start seeing ballots returned around 15 days before then, and you’ll see a lot of signature verification. If you come in on election day, you may see ballots being extracted from envelopes after the signatures have been verified. You might even see tabulation activities.
If you really want an introduction to how elections work, I encourage people to sign up to be an election worker. Now is a good time—please don’t ask us on election day because we’ve already staffed everything. But if you ask now, many counties like Marin are accepting applications.
That’s how I started in elections—I volunteered to be a poll worker years and years ago. And once the elections bug bites you, you never go back. I highly encourage people to do it.
Mina Kim: Are you seeing an uptick in interest—or a decline—from other elections officials across the state? I know you speak with them regularly about people not wanting to be poll workers because of concerns about intimidation or a federal or law enforcement presence.
Natalie Adona: Lately, we’ve seen more interest in participating in elections. But you’re absolutely right—particularly after the 2020 election, we had a really hard stretch. In 2021 during the gubernatorial recall and again in 2022, we saw the fallout from misinformation and disinformation from the 2020 election cycle.
A lot of poll workers bore the brunt of citizens’ frustrations about the previous presidential election.
Now, people are starting to get interested again—mostly out of curiosity about how the process works. When I tell folks who are concerned about this upcoming cycle to look at the many steps and processes we take all the time to ensure safe and secure elections, they become very interested. I encourage people to come to us, go through the training, and if you love it—welcome to my world.
Mina Kim: You’ve certainly dealt with your share of severe harassment. Before you took the job in Marin, you were registrar of voters in Nevada County, a more conservative county. And you even had to obtain a restraining order there. What kind of harassment did you face?
Natalie Adona: There was an overlap between people upset about the last presidential election and people upset about mask mandates. It culminated in an incident where I was threatened in person. It was actually the county counsel’s idea to pursue a restraining order, which we obtained.
Unfortunately, it created tension with a small but very vocal group in the community. We had to work through that, because they were also very interested in election activities and frequently made data requests and other information requests. It was a very interesting working relationship.
When I decided to move to Marin, it was mostly because I’m from the Bay Area and my family is here. But I was also looking forward to being in an environment where I didn’t feel like I had to put myself out there so much. In Nevada County, the conversation drifted away from elections and became focused on me.
I would much rather focus on elections—securing public trust in the process and, ultimately, trust in election results, no matter who wins.
Mina Kim: How worried are you about what you’re seeing now regarding voting systems nationwide—with the steady drumbeat of claims of widespread voter fraud, the FBI raid of an election center in Georgia, and demands by the DOJ for detailed voter rolls?
Natalie Adona: I try not to worry too much, but I do a lot of planning—contingency planning for the “what ifs.” There’s messaging out there that I think is intended to create chaos, so planning helps us stay grounded.
One thing I’ve told our voters is that we’re not going to have a Fulton County situation here in Marin, at least not related to the 2020 election. For one, the statutory period for pursuing an election crime from 2020 has lapsed. Second, we’ve already destroyed all materials from the 2020 election—the retention period is 22 months, so they were destroyed in September 2022.
Looking ahead, I don’t know what will happen. Government resources are limited. If something like what happened in Fulton County occurs again, it will probably be targeted at places where election results are close.
Mina Kim: We just have 20 seconds, Natalie. What’s your advice to voters about how to defend our election system—the best thing they can do?
Natalie Adona: If you have questions, ask an elections official first—and please volunteer to get involved. You can observe, work the polls—there are lots of options. In California, you have the right to ask questions about the elections process and get answers. We’re here to answer them.
Mina Kim: Natalie Adona, registrar of voters for Marin County. Thank you so much.
Natalie Adona: Thank you so much. Have a great day.
Mina Kim: You too. We’re talking about concerns over midterm election interference and what you can do. More after the break. I’m Mina Kim.
