Farr was not in court for the proceedings, which took
place Feb. 17 during a regularly scheduled meeting of the Santa Barbara County
Board of Supervisors.
During opening statements before Santa Barbara County
Superior Court Judge William McLafferty, Pappas’
attorney, Jeffrey Lake, said his case would prove widespread voter fraud in
precincts in Isla Vista and on campus at the University of California, Santa
Barbara, should negate more than 9,000 last-minute voter registrations and
change the outcome of the election in Pappas’ favor.
Farr defeated Pappas in the Nov.4 election to become the
3rd District Supervisor by an 806 vote margin. The case could become a
precedent setter in terms of voter registration law and what technicalities can
be used to challenge the results of an election.
About 13,000 votes were cast in the 18 precincts in Isla
Vista and on the UCSB campus, Lake said.
“The facts are going to show there were illegal votes
cast; they are going to show there were mistakes made; and as a result, it was
enough to change the outcome of the election,” Lake said.
The majority of the court day was spent with County Clerk
Recorder Assessor Joe Holland on the witness stand. Lake walked Holland through
a series of questions about the duties of his job and that of his office, and
asked him numerous detailed questions about the voter registration form all
potential voters must first fill out and submit to their county elections
office before becoming registered to vote.
The questions ranged from what parts of the form Holland
considered essential — to whether certain things, such as a dorm room number,
could be omitted and still be within the acceptable parameters for someone to
register to vote.
Holland testified that he thought it was OK if a UCSB
student did not put the dorm room number or post office box number on the
registration form, and that a ballot or further contact from the elections
office could be delivered “general delivery” at the dorm front desk. The
questions go to the concerns the Pappas team has about the Storm the Dorm voter
registration drive conducted during the final weeks of eligible registration
time leading up to the Nov. 4 election.
Holland said he also thought it was OK if the cards were
not submitted to the elections office within the three-day guideline provided
by state law.
“As long as we get them by the close of election, we will
process those cards, whether someone’s violated the three-day rule or not,”
Holland said.
Holland produced a document Lake
had not seen before, which seemed useful in proving Pappas’ case.
The item, a memo from the California Secretary of State,
indicated that certain places on voter registration forms must be filled out
appropriately or the registration and any votes cast by the voter could be
invalid. The information boxes in question included information about past
voter registrations.
Holland said his office has been stricter than other
counties in terms of enforcing the rule about past voter registration
information. If that section of the form is incomplete, he said, his office
will contact the voter and ask them to provide full details of their past
registration history so the form is complete.
Renee Bischof of the
registrar’s office also testified about the various duties of the registrar’s
office and her role in the elections process.
She explained the various reports the county receives
from the Secretary of State’s office about whether or not voters’ information
has been verified.
Farr’s attorney, Fred Woocher,
declined to make an opening statement, but did object to what he called a
potential “illegal vote list” of 9,125 voters submitted by the Pappas legal
team he considers “useless.”
“It was meaningless, and could not have possibly been
submitted in good faith,” Woocher said.
His team did not have time to go over all the names
because the list was provided on Feb. 13 before the three-day Presidents Day
weekend, Woocher said.
Further evidence in the case is likely to include
witnesses who are student voters from UCSB. Pappas’ team has said they have
students who will take the stand who will say they did not vote but are on
record as having had ballots cast in their names.
They also may call a handwriting expert to handle what
Lake described as numerous registration forms with inconsistencies.
“Different handwriting and different inks on these cards
… indicate that the person who filled out the card, generally, and the person
who filled out the card as far as the address, are different,” Lake said.
Farr’s supporters have circulated a letter to residents
not only in Goleta but also to people living outside the 3rd District, asking
for funds to pay her legal fees for this challenge of her election win. The
document, which includes statement of her intent to focus on the business of
county government, says her supporters are trying to raise at least $60,000 to
meet those expenses.
Pappas has not issued any request for funding support.
Two of the primary financial backers of his campaign, Doug Herthel and Nancy
Crawford-Hall (owner of the Valley Journal) were in court for the Feb. 17
proceedings.
Reach Leah Etling at
letling@syvjournal.com.