The district attorney has hired an inspector with the Santa Cruz
County District Attorney’s Office to investigate allegations of
improper voting in the race for District 5 supervisor.
The district attorney has hired an inspector with the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office to investigate allegations of improper voting in the race for District 5 supervisor.
District Attorney John Sarsfield requested the outside probe from the Board of Supervisors, which approved it for up to $20,000 during closed session of a Tuesday meeting.
That request came a day after Sarsfield said his own office planned to lead the investigation. Sarsfield did not return phone calls placed to his office and cell phone Wednesday.
Head elections official John Hodges on Wednesday questioned the district attorney’s motive.
“I just don’t understand what the tie is,” Hodges said. “That’s just like sending the Hollister Police Department over to Santa Cruz to give them tickets.
“What’s the matter with our investigators?”
Hodges received a phone call Tuesday afternoon from Aron Tripp, an inspector in the Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office, according to Hodges.
Hodges said Tripp told him he would be investigating Jaime De La Cruz – who unofficially defeated incumbent Bob Cruz in the District 5 race by 10 votes – along with De La Cruz’s campaign volunteer, Ignacio Velazquez.
Cruz declined comment on the matter. And De La Cruz on Wednesday said the inspector had not attempted to question him yet.
“It’s sad the Board of Supervisors is spending that much money,” De La Cruz said, “of taxpayers’ money, hard earned money, on this ridiculous political situation.”
Once the funding was allocated, Sarsfield’s choice of investigator was not up to the Board, according to Nancy Miller, the Board’s outside hired lawyer.
“That’s totally under the purview of the DA,” she said. “He is running that investigation.”
The inspector told Hodges that he would be in Hollister on Wednesday, but Tripp didn’t show up to the Elections Office, according to Hodges.
Tripp did not return calls placed by the Free Lance to his office Wednesday.
The issue of alleged election fraud arose shortly after the Elections Office finished counting the final absentee ballots March 8 and De La Cruz overtook the incumbent.
Absent voters are allowed to designate a family or household member to hand in ballots. But eight absentees in District 5 were returned by friends or others not allowed to by state elections law, according to a log book signed by designees.
Workers counted those ballots, according to Hodges. But they separated ballots from names during the anonymous counting process. So elections officials don’t know how those eight residents voted; nor can they “uncount” the votes, according to Hodges.
“I don’t know how in the heck they plan on getting voter fraud,” said Hodges, who has acknowledged his office made an honest mistake by counting the absentee votes. “I didn’t see any, and I keep my ear pretty close to the ground.”
The outside probe also comes less than a week after two private investigators hired by the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens dismissed themselves from involvement. They cited a policy not to spearhead coinciding investigations along with a law enforcement agency.
Sarsfield also approached the local Sheriff’s Department and the Hollister Police Department about the issue, he said.
Sheriff Curtis Hill has confirmed that Sarsfield requested his department conduct the probe, but Hill declined the offer.
“I think that’s a good call,” Hill said Wednesday of the outside investigation. “It’s a good independent look at the issues.”
Supervisors Reb Monaco and Ruth Kesler defended the allocation from the county’s General Fund. They agreed with the contention to obtain outside help. Kesler also expressed confidence the state would still get involved.
The Board has also recently hired Miller, the outside lawyer, to commission the investigation – even though the county maintains a full-time county counsel.
Miller also requested a probe by the Secretary of State’s Office, but it is unclear whether state investigators would join the scrutiny.
Hodges said he told the inspector to come back March 29 when he certifies the election results. After that happens, anyone has five days to request a recount.
De La Cruz said he’s waiting for the certification so that he can “move on and study the issues” in preparation for the Board.
