Members of a community group calling itself the Riverside Election Integrity Team (REIT) Tuesday asked the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to delay receiving the official canvass for the May 5 De Luz Community Services District Mail Ballot Special Measure Election.
According to the certified results, there were 533 ballots cast in the election in which there were 1,560 registered voters. Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Riverside County Registrar of Voters (ROV) Art Tinoco provided REIT with ballot statements for the election.
“We [were] able to complete the audit, and when we completed the audit with the information we had last Thursday, we found a discrepancy of 10 more votes than ballots,” Greg Langworthy, a member of the group, said. “We sent a letter to you guys, we sent a letter to the ROV, and they found another receipt that they hadn’t had before, another ballot collection log.”
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With the inclusion of that previously missing ballot collection log, REIT found that the number of ballots counted by the ROV was the same as the number of ballots collected.
“My message is that the ROV, our particular ROV, is probably one of the best in the state in terms of providing records, providing transparency,” Langworthy said. “That’s how we’re able to give you information.”
However, Veronica Langworthy, also a member of the group, said that because REIT had not been provided documentation for the number of ballots being delivered by the United States Postal Service and the missing ballot collection log was dated one day following the election that the group could not fully reconcile the results.
“The question is does the 523 that were received by May 5 and the 10 on May 6 equal to 533 [and] is that valid,” she said. “Or is it [that] 523 is less than 533, which does not match the certification number, because May 5 was Election Day. It was not May 6.”
The ROV, in providing the final collection log to the group, noted that the 10 ballots were dropped off at Temecula City Hall, which was not an official drop-off location for this election but was serving as a drop-off location at the time for the June 2 primary election, and were “retrieved, inspected and determined to be valid for the election,” before being counted.
Despite this, Veronica Langworthy said the supervisors should hold off on receiving the official canvass of the election until Tinoco, in his capacity as an election official, ordered and conducted a public recount of the ballots.
“He can do it today, and this will go a long way for supporting election confidence, a long way to supporting access to vote,” she said.
Minh Tran, county counsel, clarified that a citizen could request and pay for a recount, but that would have had to be done no later than May 20 for this election. He also further clarified that the supervisors had a “ministerial duty” to receive and file the official canvass of votes.
“The board here has no discretion in terms of either changing the result or ordering a recount,” he said. “Election Code is very specific in order to make sure that there’s transparency, there’s equal treatment [and] equal rights for every interested party involved.”
Later in the meeting, Tran said he had received a text message from Tinoco confirming that he had “personally and physically hand recounted those votes and confirmed the numbers,” prior to certifying the results.
The board unanimously voted to receive and file the canvass of votes, with Supervisor Jose Medina during his board comments saying that he didn’t need to hear “more false accusations.”
“As I hear presentations, and as I hear folks who doubt the integrity of our voting system and the integrity of the Registrar of Voters, I’m reminded of this question, ‘When did you stop beating your wife,’” he said. “Because the question implies something that is not true.”
Medina, who has been critical of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s investigation into alleged election fraud largely based on information provided by REIT, also serves on the board’s ad hoc election committee.
“As to the effect that individuals [who] question the legitimacy [of our elections], I do think it discourages participation in voting, something that is so fundamental to our democratic system of government,” he said. “And I join my colleague, Supervisor [V. Manuel] Perez, who [said] at some point we need to say stop…I am at that point as well.”
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