As elections officials continue a routine canvass of the
historically tight District 5 results, outside investigators
haven’t stepped foot in the Elections Office for a pending scrutiny
into allegations of improper voting.
As elections officials continue a routine canvass of the historically tight District 5 results, outside investigators haven’t stepped foot in the Elections Office for a pending scrutiny into allegations of improper voting.
And even though county officials hope for a conclusion to the controversy soon, head elections official John Hodges doesn’t expect anyone examining his office’s documents until he’s certified the votes, he said.
According to state law, that certification must happen by March 30, after which any resident or group has five days to request a recount.
Jaime De La Cruz has unofficially defeated incumbent Bob Cruz by 10 votes. But speculation has arisen regarding absentee ballots and suspicions over voting rights violations toward Spanish-speaking residents.
The local branch of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has hired two private investigators. And the county Board of Supervisors has requested an investigation by the District Attorney’s Office and the state.
Hodges said investigators rummaging through his office would “disrupt the canvass.” That process includes hand-counting all ballots in one precinct of each district – and it is required after every election.
“And boy I’m looking, looking for anything,” Hodges said. “Because I don’t want any surprises.”
He knows, however, there will be some type of recount or challenge to the contentious race, he said. It’s just a matter of when, and he’s advocating that potential outside involvement wait until after a certification.
The Board’s hired lawyer Nancy Miller doesn’t know a precise timeline, she said, but she expects some level of action soon.
“I don’t think we’re going to wait,” Miller said. “And we shouldn’t wait.”
LULAC’s local investigators, Dennis Stafford and Richard Boomer, have already requested access to Elections Office documents, Hodges said. They wanted to start a recount immediately.
But, Hodges said, the Elections Code “is pretty specific” about the process for a recount.
“They wanted to go through the process that you normally would go through after the canvass has been certified,” Hodges said.
Despite Cruz’s relationship with other supervisors and his wife’s active involvement in LULAC, the two-term incumbent said he’s “just staying in the background.” He declined further comment.
Questions first arose regarding improper voting procedure for returning absentee ballots.
Voters are allowed to designate a family or household member to hand in their ballots at the Elections Office. Eight ballots in District 5 were returned by friends or other non-relatives, according to a log book signed by designees in the office.
Those ballots can’t be canceled, though, because names are separated from ballots during the counting process.
Aside from a recount, the focus of any investigation would likely include a thorough examination of signatures on absentee ballots – to make sure voter fraud wasn’t committed, Hodges said.
District Attorney John Sarsfield, who is on vacation this week, did not return phone calls placed to his cell phone Wednesday. So it is unclear if or when his office plans to start inspecting the issue.
Meanwhile, in District 1, Don Marcus unofficially defeated his two challengers and narrowly avoided a November runoff by gaining 50.1 percent of the vote – eight more votes than he needed.
The No. 2 candidate in the race, Marci Huston, was in Israel this past week so she only recently learned of the speculation over the March 2 election.
She said she hasn’t considered whether she might request a recount in District 1.
“I hear all kinds of rumors, and I’m just waiting to see what happens,” she said.
