Challenges for Los Angeles County’s Election Head

Dean Logan, the man in charge of counting votes in Los Angeles County, has had a career marked by navigating election controversies.

Logan, who makes around $450,000 a year, is currently facing renewed scrutiny as many ballots remain uncounted amidst crucial elections.

Throughout his time in election administration, Logan has dealt with significant criticism stemming from various high-profile disputes across different states.

Before moving to California, he served as the elections director in King County, Washington, where he managed elections for a substantial portion of the state’s voters.

His time in Washington became closely associated with intense election campaigns, notably when Dino Rossi, a Republican candidate, initially appeared to be winning the 2004 gubernatorial race.

However, after several recounts, Democrat Christine Gregoire was certified as the victor, even though she had lagged in two machine counts. Gregoire eventually won by a mere 129 votes after an extensive manual recount of about 2.9 million ballots.

This election not only triggered a statewide lawsuit but also led to multiple investigations and prolonged political debates.

Despite the court affirming the results, Logan faced ongoing criticism from some Republicans, which included calls for his resignation.

A 2008 profile by the Los Angeles Times indicated that many Republicans in Washington continue to express sharp disapproval regarding Logan’s handling of elections, while Democratic leaders appreciate his leadership.

Logan joined the Los Angeles County election office in 2006, first as a deputy to then-Registrar Connie McCormack, before eventually taking over as elections director for the nation’s largest local elections jurisdiction.

In Los Angeles, he has also encountered criticism related to various election controversies, including a significant incident in 2008 where around 50,000 voters had their ballots initially excluded due to not marking necessary party affiliation bubbles for participation in certain primaries.

This situation provoked backlash from campaign activists, with some demanding Logan’s resignation. However, county supervisors ultimately supported him after officials devised a method to verify and count many of the disputed ballots.

Logan also managed one of the largest modernization efforts in the county’s election history. In 2018, Los Angeles County contracted election technology company Smartmatic to create the National Vote Solution (VSAP) voting system for about $282 million.

The initiative faced scrutiny from some election security analysts prior to its countywide rollout.

According to a 2020 report, both state reviews and external security experts identified several vulnerabilities in the VSAP system, raising concerns about potential tampering or disruptions if unresolved issues persisted.

While county officials indicated most of the flagged problems had been addressed, some experts insisted that more vulnerabilities should be rectified before fully implementing the system.

By 2020, the county rolled out the new system, replacing outdated voting equipment with touchscreen devices and establishing a network of voting centers across Los Angeles.

This partnership later gained national attention amid allegations of election violations connected to Smartmatic following the 2020 presidential election. The company has consistently denied wrongdoing and has secured substantial legal settlements against media outlets that published inaccurate claims about it.

Concerns emerged again regarding vote counting speed during the 2022 California primary.

As Los Angeles County took weeks to finalize results, several races remained unresolved long after Election Day, prompting discontent among candidates and voters.

These issues continued to arise during the 2024 election cycle, bringing renewed attention to the slow counting process.

A recent visit by the California Post to a 144,000-square-foot ballot processing facility revealed numerous vacant workstations, with over 700,000 ballots still unprocessed, leading to more questions about efficiency.

Logan oversees a department with an annual budget of approximately $337 million and around 1,150 authorized positions, as per county budget documents.