The life of a ballot is boring. Or at least it should be.

Last February, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized more than 650,000 ballots as part of an investigation into what he said was widespread fraud during the Proposition 50 special election, according to the New York Times. California Attorney General Rob Bonta immediately challenged the seizure, and the California Supreme Court eventually ruled that it was unlawful.

Fortunately, ballot seizures – and election fraud in general – are exceedingly rare. But in the wake of Bianco’s actions and ongoing federal threats to our voting systems, young people have an opportunity to step in.

Protecting our democracy is not a task reserved for elected officials or administrators. By volunteering as poll workers or watchers, students can help midterm elections run smoothly and restore trust in our election system.

Concerns about the integrity of elections have increased since 2020. A June 2026 Los Angeles Times poll found that 31% of Californians lacked confidence in their local election officials.

But what these raw numbers don’t reflect is the deep partisan divides over election-related fears: Republicans tend to be more concerned about widespread fraud or ballot mishandling.

“In ‘24, we had an entire war room of staffers and lawyers, so whenever people saw anything that they thought could be fraud or whatever, they would send it in to us,” said Francisco Bedoya, the communications manager at the California Republican Party.

These fears, while often sincerely held, are not corroborated by facts. The Brennan Center for Justice aptly noted that an American is more likely to be struck by lightning than have someone impersonate them at the polls.

On the other hand, Democrats’ anxieties about voting tend to stem from concerns about federal overreach. While the likelihood of another rogue actor like Bianco seizing ballots is low, it could severely undermine voter trust, said Shelby Wayment, a staff attorney at the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA Law.

“The risk with the ballot seizure specifically is that if you’re in a state that takes a long time to count ballots like California, if control of the Senate or the House comes down to a key race, you just have such a long period where things could be disrupted,” Wayment said. “It can disrupt the chain of custody and kind of cast doubt on election events because you don’t know if ballots have been tampered with or altered.”

Landon Block, a communications and digital associate at the California Democratic Party, said taking advantage of this uncertainty is a key part of Republicans’ midterm strategy.

On Oct. 15, the Trump administration sued the state of California and the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk to block the counting of more than 20,000 ballots cast by people the administration alleges are likely noncitizens. Similar attempts to purge the voter rolls have come up empty: After initially alleging that there were more than 15,000 noncitizen voters in Nevada, the Trump administration narrowed the claim to 185 voters, all of whom were later found to be citizens.

This is where students come in.

While defending the state against frivolous lawsuits is probably best left to the professionals, volunteering as a poll worker or poll watcher allows members of the public to engage directly with the electoral process. Poll workers ensure voting is accessible and confidential for all voters, while poll watchers serve as watchdogs and are trained to contact rapid response in case of an irregularity.

“Many of my friends did it (were poll workers) when I was in college, and they had such wonderful experiences because you get a peek behind the curtain at how it all works,” Block said.

The demand is definitely there. Historically, there has been a shortage of poll workers in LA County, and a 2020 study found that the majority of poll workers across the country are over 60 years old.

Granted, Election Day volunteering can be difficult for some Bruins amid the busy quarter system. Great alternatives include getting involved with your local political party or even committing to vote early, Wayment said.

“Trying to spread good information, like how to cast a ballot, is one of the best things you can do,” she added.

The threat of ballot seizures or federal agents coming to the polls is scary, but Bruins can be a part of the solution. All of us have a role to play in protecting American democracy.

In simpler terms, MEBA: “Make elections boring again.”