Results from the Coachella Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) Board of Education will not be included in updates from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters (ROV) after what has been called a “clerical error” prevented roughly 2,400 eligible voters from participating.
The day before the election, CVUSD released a statement notifying community members that the contests for Trustee Areas 1, 2 and 4 were not included on the ballot for voters in Imperial County, which impacted all races since all CVUSD allows all eligible voters within the district to vote for all of the trustee areas.
“CVUSD has submitted the resolution in the same format for the past decade to Riverside County Registrar’s Office and Imperial County Registrar’s Office,” the statement said. “Therefore, CVUSD is currently awaiting a response from Imperial County Registrar of Voters and the County of Riverside Registrar of Voters, to explain why CVUSD Trustee Area 1, 2 and 4 were not included in the 2024 Ballot for Imperial County.”
It was not immediately clear when the issue was first discovered, but late Tuesday night the Riverside County ROV released a statement on social media that it would not be able to release the results of the CVUSD election for the Riverside County voters due to a temporary restraining order (TRO).
According to the request for a TRO — jointly filed on Election Day by the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, CVUSD, Riverside County ROV Art Tinoco and Imperial County ROV Linsey Dale — releasing the vote count of the Riverside County voters would cause “irreparable harm,” and has the potential to invalidate the entire election.
“The parties hope that the issue can be resolved by providing the Imperial County CVUSD voters the opportunity to vote on the races without having to conduct an expensive bi-county special election and without invalidating the votes cast by the CVUSD voters voting in Riverside County,” the request stated. “In order to do this, however, it is imperative that the Riverside County vote counts for CVUSD voters are not released until Imperial County CVUSD voters have had the opportunity to vote.”
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Chad Firetag granted the restraining order and set a secondary hearing for this morning to allow all parties involved a chance to present a “proposed writ to resolve the underlying issue.”
“It is our opinion that had we not sought immediate judicial intervention, and a TRO not been issued, the ballots would have been made public without voters from the Imperial County being able to participate in the process,” a Wednesday update from CVUSD said. “This would have resulted in the invalidation of the entire election, eroded the confidence in the selection of Board members and necessitated a special election for both Riverside and Imperial Counties, potentially early next year.”
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In an emailed statement to The Riverside Record, Elizabeth Florer, public information officer for the Riverside County ROV, said the status hearing was held and the judge extended the restraining order through 5 p.m. Dec. 6 and set another status hearing for Nov. 22.
“While the TRO is active, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters is prohibited from reporting results from any Trustee Area and from releasing any results upon request,” the statement said.
As for the ballots cast by Riverside County CVUSD voters, Florer said in an interview with The Record that every single vote on every single eligible ballot has been or will be counted by the ROV, including votes cast in the CVUSD election.
“It did not delay our process whatsoever,” she said. “It just gave us clarity on the fact that we could not release those particular results.”
The ROV is required by state law to certify the election by Dec. 5, though Florer said in an interview with The Record that the details of how that will happen have yet to be determined.
The Imperial County ROV said in a Monday email reviewed by The Record that it was working with the Riverside County ROV and the California Secretary of State’s office to “ensure any necessary actions to address the omission provides an opportunity for all eligible voters to participate in elections affecting their communities.”
The statement went on to say that there was not enough time for the office to create, print and distribute supplemental ballots to those impacted with just one day to go until the election, but said that it was “evaluating the next steps.”
“Imperial County remains committed to transparency and administering a secure and fair election,” the statement said.
In an email to The Record, the California Secretary of State’s office called the issue a “local matter,” noting that it does not certify the candidates for placement on the ballot and reiterating that the counties would be finalizing election results by Dec. 5.
Imperial County voters are asked to contact the Imperial County ROV’s office by phone at (442) 265-1060 or via email at votersupport@co.imperial.ca.us for any additional questions they might have.
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