Last night at 6:45 p.m., deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department evacuated poll observers from the Orange County Registrar of Voters (OC ROV) in Santa Ana, California following a reported "bomb threat" that had been emailed to the registrar.

Despite poll observers and lawyers being told by law enforcement to immediately evacuate the property or otherwise face arrest, poll workers were told to collect their personal belongings before they were moved to a separate building for an estimated thirty minutes during the search.

A poll worker told Rebel News that throughout this half-hour period, ballots were left out in the open. Many observers were worried about the potential for election interference to occur while they were off the property, as there were no third parties present to keep OC ROV staff accountable. "I just have PTSD from all the election shenanigans in 2020," one of them expressed.

Before the evacuation, The OC ROV staff were busy counting ballots for California District 47’s congressional race between Republican Scott Baugh and Democrat Dave Min. 

Although only 82% of expected votes have been counted, Min is in the lead by a slim 1%. With only 12 uncalled House races left, the outcome of Orange County’s election could make or break a house majority. Election results are expected to be announced on Monday.

🚨SKETCHY THINGS HAPPENING AT Orange County ROV.
Extremely tight house race over #CA47. Sheriff evacuated ROV over alleged ‘threat’ half an hour ago. Poll watchers were told to evacuate the property while ROV workers were just moved to another building. Will update.

— Sarah Stock ♱ (@sarahcstock) November 9, 2024

The registrar, Bob Page, told Rebel News that the ballots were secured. "They were left on the tables, but there were Sheriff's deputies that stayed there all night," he said, confirming that the doors to the room were locked following the evacuation.

Page was unable to confirm the reason for the protocol to evacuate the poll observers but not the workers and said that the decision was made by the Sheriff's Department. Rebel News has reached out to the Sheriff's office for comment.

While a live stream is typically available online for the public to watch the vote-counting process, it was turned off as the evacuation began. The registrar said it was shut down because vote counting was finished for the day, and confirmed that there is no playback of the recording available.

Police dogs were brought into the building for the bomb search, and no explosives were found.

The FBI said in a statement earlier this week that on election day, bomb threats had been made to polling locations in several states, claiming that many were not credible and appeared to come from Russian email domains.

Video of the white trucks. Why weren’t poll workers instructed to leave the property?
Sheriff is expected to make a statement soon. https://t.co/IFkEl36CuG pic.twitter.com/RskKwff3Ff

— Sarah Stock ♱ (@sarahcstock) November 9, 2024

Information is not yet available about the source of the Orange County bomb threat, which was emailed anonymously to one of the registrar’s general accounts.

Vote counting has resumed today. Poll observers reported that workers seemed “agitated” and had a counsellor available for anyone who needed condolence after last night’s stress. Many Sheriffs were on site and conducted more bomb sweeps throughout the day. 

Many lawyers and poll observers were also present, and the RNC’s “Protect the Vote” department is aware of the incident.

A poll worker told Rebel News that when they returned to the vote center this morning, everything was in the same place as the night before.