Steve Pappas officially contests election votes Steve Pappas, a Los Olivos businessman who ran for the 3rd District county supervisor seat against supervisor-elect Doreen Farr, has filed a petition contesting the results of the Nov

 

Steve Pappas, a Los Olivos businessman who ran for the 3rd District  county supervisor seat against supervisor-elect Doreen Farr, has filed a petition contesting the results of the Nov. 4, 2008 election with the California Superior Court.

Solvang resident Farr was elected to the 3rd District supervisor seat, succeeding Brooks Firestone, who retired, and she is scheduled to be sworn in at the first Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting of the year on Jan. 6 in Santa Barbara.

The paperwork filed by Pappas with the court “seeks a determination that illegal votes were given to opponent Doreen Farr, which, if eliminated, would result in Pappas winning the election,” said a Dec. 31 Pappas press release.

 Farr said after learning of the filing that she is confident the outcome of the election was fair.

 “I’ve thought all along, and continue to believe, the elections office ran a fair and honest campaign. The outcome of this action will show the same,” Farr said in a phone interview.

The contest of the election was announced and filed Dec. 31. Earlier in the month, Pappas and his supporters requested a recount of the returns from 18 precincts in Isla Vista. That resulted in a change of one vote in Pappas’ favor. Cost of the recount was about $10,000, according to the county Elections Office.

The overall election results in Farr’s favor had her winning by 805 votes. She received more votes in precincts in Isla Vista and Goleta, according to official election returns, while Pappas got more in the Santa Ynez Valley.

 The substance of the petition focuses on voter registration forms from the precincts at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Isla Vista, which the Pappas team charges may have been illegal and improperly accepted by the Santa Barbara Registrar of Voters.

 “Pappas, through his lawyers Jeffrey A. Lake and Stanley H. Green, intends to prove in court that more than half of the 9, 700 new registrations submitted to the Santa Barbara Registrar by voter registration drives conducted on the UCSB Campus between September 26, 2008 and October 20, 2008 are illegal,” the press release said.

 Farr pointed out that it is normal for UCSB to hold voter registration drives at election time.

 

“I think if they look back even four years, nothing different happened in this election, as far as voter registration in that area that doesn’t happen out there every two or four years,” Farr said of the college community.

 

Pappas contends that if the votes he has contested are determined to be invalid, he will win the election by 2,250 votes.

 

For further details on Pappas’ concerns, see the press release posted at www.syvjournal.com.

 

Pappas is represented by the law firm of Bell, McAndrews and Hiltachk, with offices in Sacramento and Santa Monica. The firm specializes in election law. Farr said she has not retained an attorney and it is her understanding that since the county has certified the election, they will need to defend against the petition.

 

Officials from the county elections office were not available for comment on Dec. 31. County offices have been closed for a two week budget furlough over the holidays.

 

The contesting of the results is not expected to have any impact on Farr being sworn into office.

 

In previous meetings with Pappas’ team, elections officials have maintained that all ballots and voter registrations were appropriately handled according to the law. Observers from Farr’s camp were on hand to observe the recount process at the elections office in December.

 

Reach Leah Etling at letling@syvjournal.com.

 

NEWS RELEASE

NEWS RELEASE

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

CONTACT: Jeffrey A. Lake, Esq. (310) 557-2009

 

CANDIDATE STEVE PAPPAS CONTESTS THE ELECTION FOR SANTA BARBARA COUNTY’S THIRD DISTRICT SUPERVISOR

 

 --(Santa Barbara, CA) Steve Pappas, candidate for Santa Barbara County’s Third District

Supervisor, today officially contests the 2008 general election by filing a Verified Petition and Statement of Election Contest with the California Superior Court. The petition seeks a determination that illegal votes were given to opponent Doreen Farr, which, if eliminated, would result in Pappas winning the election.

 

The Petition cites 18 voting precincts in the University of California Santa Barbara and Isla Vista areas of the county where thousands of potential illegal registration forms were submitted to, and improperly accepted by, the Santa Barbara County Registrar of Voters office.

Pappas contends that the people who were improperly registered should be determined as ineligible to vote and therefore have their votes determined invalid in the 2008 election.

 

Pappas received tremendous support in the UCSB and Isla Vista areas throughout his seven months of campaigning there, including the endorsement of the Daily Nexus, UCSB’s campus newspaper. Yet, despite carrying many precincts in the 3rd District by large margins and receiving this very important endorsement at UCSB he lost by 3057 votes in the

18 precincts at issue. If the contested votes in these precincts are determined to be invalid, Pappas will win the election by approximately 2250 votes.

 

Pappas, through his lawyers Jeffrey A. Lake and Stanley H. Green, intends to prove in court that more than half of the 9700 new registrations submitted to the Santa Barbara Registrar by voter registration drives conducted on the UCSB Campus between September 26, 2008 and

October 20, 2008 are illegal.

 

In filing the petition, Pappas highlights that the contest to this election is neither a personal attack of his opponent nor a suggestion that she personally committed any wrongdoing.

“This election contest is about the office, not the individual candidates,” says Pappas. “Our American democratic system is based upon fair and open elections. No matter the outcome of any particular campaign, the integrity of our political process must be ensured in the way that all elections are conducted; from the registration of potential voters to the tabulation of the ballots cast.”

 

Pappas’ attorney Jeffrey Lake agrees. “Manipulation of an election is possible if election officials don’t strictly monitor and assure compliance with the detailed registration and voting requirements established by law. Without checks and balances the democratic process can be hijacked or circumvented. Elections are not fair if the registration and ballot

processes are not strictly followed.”

 

Pappas’ legal team reviewed a sample of approximately 600 registration cards from the precincts in question and found conclusive evidence that many voter registration forms are illegal for the following reasons:

 

1. Statement of Distribution forms, distribution plans, affidavits and acknowledgements were not properly filed with the Santa Barbara Registrar and Secretary of State.

 

2. People who assisted others to register to vote failed to properly complete the voter registration forms utilized in the assistance of registering others to vote.

 

3. Previously registered voters were reregistered without properly completing their registration forms.

 

4. Individuals, groups and organizations accepted completed registration forms from registrants, but failed to return those registration forms to the Santa Barbara county election officials within the time limit of receiving them.

 

Additionally, the Pappas legal team intends to prove that the Santa Barbara County Registrar of Voters made errors sufficient to change the result of the election while conducting the election and canvassing the returns. These errors include:

 

1. Considering registration forms valid and timely despite receiving them after the required deadline.

 

2. Improperly accepting registration forms from individuals, groups and organizations submitted on behalf of registrants by failing to acknowledge receipt and acceptance of those registration cards within the time limit of receiving them.

 

3. Failing to properly verify the identification and eligibility of voters before allowing them to vote.

 

4. Allowing first-time Federal voters to vote without providing proper identification.

 

5. Mailing absentee ballots to voters who were not registered as permanent absentee voters.

 

6. Failing to comply with the identification validation requirements of Help America

 

Vote Act (“HAVA”) by failing to verify the driver’s license or state identification numbers through the Calvalidator system.

 

Pappas’ attorney for over 20 years, Stan Green confirmed, “Steve is an outstanding an ethical individual that has always been willing to accept the result of this election once it is properly determined. He is truly more concerned about protecting and preserving the American democratic system than his own interest. This is what motivated him to file this

petition.”

 

Steve Pappas is a candidate for Santa Barbara County’s Third District Supervisor. He is a businessman and past President of the Los Olivos School District Board of Trustees. Pappas and his wife Lori live in Los Olivos with their two sons.

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