I.E. United Ramps Up Outreach Efforts Ahead of June Primary

With just 36 days to go until the June 2 primary election, Inland Empire United (I.E. United) has started ramping up its outreach in an effort to make sure voters are informed, engaged and ready to head to the polls.

“Right now, the focus is on making sure people have the information they need and feel confident in how they participate,” the organization said in an email about the effort. “That starts with being present, answering questions and meeting people where they are.”

In the first week of outreach, April 14-18, canvassers spoke with more than 1,700 residents. Of those, more than 1,100 said they had made a plan to vote.

“What we’re hoping to accomplish is really just informing, first and foremost, people about the primary election,” Communications Director Kevin Boddy said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “Most people just think that there’s elections in November, but the primary election has a lot of ramifications.”

But raising awareness of what’s on the ballot is just one part of the work I.E. United is doing, Boddy said. The other is hearing from residents about their concerns about the election process.

“A lot of the conversations we had were either about concerns about mail-in voting or whether the ballots were going to be seized or restrictions to voting,” he said, noting that canvassers often send people to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters (ROV) website for additional information. “We just try to tell folks that voting hasn’t changed from the last time you voted in and just try to sort of quell what they may or may not have heard.”

The top two concerns people brought up, Boddy said, were about Sheriff Chad Bianco’s now-paused investigation into alleged election irregularities and election integrity in general.

“We are committed to administering elections that are accurate, secure, transparent, and accessible to all eligible voters,” Public Information Officer Elizabeth Florer said in an email to The Record.

She said that work includes maintaining an accurate and up-to-date voter registration database that is continually reviewed and updated. Additionally, she said the ROV has safeguards in place to prevent duplicate voting, such as signature verification, ballot tracking and post-election audits. When a voter casts their ballot, their record is updated to reflect they have voted.

“These processes are supported by state-certified election systems and strict chain-of-custody procedures to ensure accuracy and integrity at every stage,” she said.

And while the ROV has not issued any statements on Bianco’s investigation into last November’s election, Florer said the ROV has multiple layers of security to protect both ballots and voter information.

“Vote centers follow strict protocols for identity verification and ballot handling, while vote-by-mail ballots go through a signature verification process to confirm voter identity,” she said. “Voting systems are tested and certified prior to each election. Additionally, ballots are separated from identifying information to preserve voter privacy.”

With those protocols in place, she said voting by mail remained a safe, secure and convenient option for voters, though she encouraged people voting by mail to return their ballots early to ensure they make it back to the ROV in time to be counted.

Additionally, the ROV has implemented a number of efforts to increase transparency, including opportunities for the public to observe ballot processing, logic and accuracy testing of voting equipment and post-election audits.

Mail-in ballots are set to go out to voters next week, but Boddy said I.E. United would continue its canvassing efforts through Election Day.

“With Prop 50, there was a lot of concern of what polling places were going to look like on Election Day,” he said. “So we’ll definitely be keeping up our efforts to make sure people can safely vote.”

More information about the June 2 primary election can be found here on the ROV’s website.