Mailbag: ICE agents at polling places undermine our democracy

Orange County voters, are you planning to vote in the November midterm elections? If President Donald Trump and Steve Bannon have their way, it may be difficult.

Let me explain: Last week, the president publicly urged Republicans to “nationalize” elections. Two days later, Bannon, Trump’s former political guru and co-founder of Breitbart News, declared that ICE agents will be surrounding polling places this fall. He didn’t say should or might. Bannon said will. Let’s be clear, these ideas are not tweaks to election procedures, nor are they good-faith debates over voting policy. They are sledgehammers aimed directly at the foundations of American democracy.

So, if you’re planning to vote in the fall, be prepared for any outcome. I don’t want to be an alarmist, but if Trump and Bannon have their way, it could be your last time to cast a ballot. I wonder what Bob Page, O.C.’s registrar of voters, thinks?

Denny Freidenrich
Laguna Beach

Broken promise

Re “Newport Beach considers infrastructure projects, including new police HQ.”

With so much going on in our country and the world at large, there seem to be few things to get excited about at the local level. But some members of Newport Beach City Council, which is known for stirring up the waters every now and then, have come up with a proposal that is a real “ doozy,” for lack of a better word.

The City Council has been known for spending lavish amounts of taxpayers’ money frivolously, but this is undoubtedly their biggest project yet. I am still trying to recover from the amount of education dollars spent on upending the school board on a whim, and all the money spent on the special mayoral election, but they pale in comparison to the latest project. Certain members of the council appear to want to destroy our Civic Center Park by placing in that location a two-story building and a three-story parking garage to serve as the next police station.

There are so many reasons why this is wrong. Perhaps the most important one is the fact that the voters approved a city charter amendment in 2008 that promised a world class city park. The proposed idea to use the area for another purpose breaks that promise.

And if you haven’t been convinced yet of the error of using the City Center Park for this re-location, no doubt you will be when you learn the proposed police station will have to locate its noisy heliport and vehicles in the park also.

The project is expected to cost more than $162 million, making it the most expensive project in the city’s history, including the Civic Center project. There will be an expensive special election, a cost that the city will incur, whether or not the project is rejected by the voters. Let’s stop it before it gets that far.

Lynn Lorenz
Newport Beach

Incoming candidates

The Huntington Beach City Council will see that their days are numbered when they realize that four of them will soon be replaced by candidates who will place the demands of the community first. They see may see that MAGA, and what it stands for, has lost its glitter after ICE allegedly caused the deaths of two citizens, and because of Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi’s failure to release the Epstein files, plus her decision not to prosecute any of the rich men named therein.

It is too late for the Huntington Beach City Council to change, since they would have to reverse their attempts to silence their critics and stop calling them names.

The present City Council’s costly expenditure of taxpayer funds by filing frivolous lawsuit is such that the community will soon rid themselves of these incompetent buffoons who have cost local taxpayers millions. November cannot come soon enough for the voting public, and Trump and the present City Council will soon learn that the public is sick and tired of their costly mistakes and chaotic mismanagement!

Richard C. Armendariz
Huntington Beach

A lost election is not a stolen one

“I told him that he fell short in 2020, and if you told him Martians came and stole votes, he’d be inclined to believe it.” — Lindsey Graham, 2020.

Despite sweeping allegations from Donald Trump, more than 60 state and federal courts rejected the 2020 election fraud claims for lack of evidence. Assertions are not proof — and the judiciary made that clear.

Now let’s contrast Trump and the Huntington Beach City Council. Their deliberate strategy is clear: repeat falsehoods, manufacture doubt and erode voter confidence. Their goal is a local voter suppression! They framed a ballot measure (Measure A, voter ID) and fooled voters that we have all this illegal voting.

However, real facts dispute that fear.

A comprehensive Brennan Center for Justice review found that investigations into non-citizen voting uncovered only minimal cases relative to ballots cast — typically fractions of a percent or near zero.

Locally, the Orange County Grand Jury concluded in its January 2025 report: “O.C. elections are fair and secure.” On May 15, 2024, at the office of the O.C. registrar of voters, Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said, “Many claim voter fraud yet provide no evidence.”

So, how many voter fraud cases have this City Council referred to the DA — if any? The pattern is clear: repeat falsehoods, manufacture doubt, undermine voter confidence to suppress the vote.

The City Council overseeing elections without the Registrar of Voters? Absolutely not. I would not trust them to administer a lemonade stand — let alone an election with integrity and respect for democratic norms.

What’s next — abolishing vote-by-mail? We will not be intimidated by Trump or by voter-suppression efforts advanced from the City Council. Mail-in voting dominates Huntington Beach. A review of the 2022, 2024 and 2025 election data shows that, overall, 77% of residents voted by mail across these cycles.

If you exclude the 2024 figures, the mail-in number jumps to 80% of Surf City’s voters.

As long as Article IV, Section 1 stands, the current assault on our democracy will fail. We will move this country forward — together, grounded in truth, not falsehoods.

Andrew Einhorn
Huntington Beach

A new hope strikes back?

Re “Huntington Beach City Council race taking shape for 2026”

Four years ago in Huntington Beach, conservative candidates running for seats on the City Council rode the Trump train to victory and created a solid MAGA majority. They ousted competent and community-oriented progressives who were perceived as too nanny state and unwilling to draw hard edges on issues of the day.

The new council majority started applying their rightwing ideology by breaking up and breaking down established norms of governance, eliminating any vestiges of equality and diversity which didn’t conform to their neo-authoritarian views. Bold change trumped competency and experience.

Four years later, this MAGA majority has imposed its will but not real leadership in dealing with our civic issues. “Promises made, promises kept” has been their motto, but certainly none of those promises were for a rose garden.

Instead, they went to war with the community. The battle over our treasured library system was but the most salient example.

This MAGA majority’s utter lack of transparency in its decision-making, the airshow settlement agreement being only the most notable example, and its antagonistic dealing with residents of opposing views has alienated not only large swathes of the community but many original “change” supporters.

If “The Empire Strikes Back” trumped “A New Hope” four years ago, “Return of the Community” is set to prevail in November. New well-qualified and motivated candidates are emerging to challenge the evil MAGA Empire. Transparency is the new watchword. In public comments at the last City Council meeting, I concluded “the only way this City Council is transparent is in our ability to see through it.” And seeing is believing.

Next month a new and potent slate of community-oriented candidates will start to ramp up activities in front of the summer filing period. While the conservative incumbents still have a MAGA “Death Star” full of outside partisan money and influence, their abject lack of leadership, problem-solving, and transparency may doom them in not serving the Surf City galaxy well. Hopefully, the Force will be with us.

Tim Geddes
Huntington Beach