A Secretary of State’s report reveals that six people voted in
March’s hotly-contested District 5 supervisor election who were not
eligible to cast ballots in that race, District Attorney John
Sarsfield said Tuesday.
Hollister – A Secretary of State’s report reveals that six people voted in March’s hotly-contested District 5 supervisor election who were not eligible to cast ballots in that race, District Attorney John Sarsfield said Tuesday.
Sarsfield has been waiting for the report for months to decide whether to press charges against Supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz, who beat Supervisor Bob Cruz by only 10 votes, for elections fraud. The Secretary of State’s office has not yet sent the report, but told him about the votes, Sarsfield said.
“Those six votes were cast and then simply thrown into the mix and counted,” he said. “So we have concerns about that.”
A representative from the Secretary of State’s Office would not comment on the report until it is complete, which Sarsfield said could be in two weeks.
He does not know if the voters in question cast their ballots for De La Cruz or Cruz.
“If it comes out the people were tied to one camp or another, that could be a problem,” Sarsfield said. “That’s why we want to wait and see (before deciding whether to press charges against De La Cruz).”
De La Cruz said the investigation and report is politically motivated and that his campaign did not target anyone to vote who shouldn’t have been voting in his district.
“Is Mr. Sarsfield insinuating that somehow I played a role in these people voting?,” De La Cruz said.
Shortly after winning the election, the Board of Supervisors launched an investigation into claims that De La Cruz and his campaign adviser, Ignacio Velazquez broke election laws by illegally handling ballots and coercing a voter, among others. The investigation touched off a series of events. At one point, Sarsfield was going to convene the grand jury to determine whether to press charges. De La Cruz’s attorney filed a motion saying Sarsfield was having an affair that tainted his oversight of the probe. The prosecutor called off the grand jury and said he was extorted.
In October, Sarsfield decided not to pursue fraud charges against Velazquez. But he is still waiting for the report from the Secretary of State’s Office to decide how to proceed with De La Cruz. A Santa Cruz investigator recommended six felonies for De La Cruz.
Velazquez said Tuesday the recent findings about the six votes have nothing to do with De La Cruz and that he heard stories about people illegally registering people to vote before the election.
“Jaime had nothing to do with anything,” Velazquez said. “This is just another thing they’re trying to put on him.”
Cruz said Tuesday he’d known about the six votes for months and that it was “not new news.”
“I know more than most people know,” Cruz said. “It’s all going to come out in the end.”
Sarsfield has said the state is working at a glacial pace in getting him the report, and said he’s ready to conclude the issue.
“I want this thing wrapped up very soon – I’m sick of all this,” he said Tuesday.
He has blamed the elections department in the past for much of the delay. In June, an office staffer misplaced an e-mail from the Secretary of State’s Office requesting documents, which apparently halted the state’s work.
The Secretary of State’s Office never asked again for the information until late August, but Registrar John Hodges has said the report has nothing to do with the investigation into De La Cruz.
Hodges said Tuesday he hasn’t received any new information from the state, but will look into the ballots after he talks to someone at the Secretary of State’s Office.
“As far as I’m concerned I’m sitting over here in left field,” Hodges said. “I’m supposed to know everything and I don’t know anything. Apparently something doesn’t sound right, so I’ve gots to go find out.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance.Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com.
