The Orange County Registrar of Voters administers elections of behalf of cities when requested.
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Libby Denkman
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LAist
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Topline:
An Orange County Superior Court judge on Tuesday denied a voter's request to halt a controversial recall election against a Santa Ana city council member.
The background: A couple of weeks ago, the Orange County registrar of voters realized the petitioners seeking to recall Santa Ana Councilmember Jessie Lopez hadn't gathered enough signatures to trigger an election. And more than 1,000 eligible voters didn’t get ballots.
What's the recall about? A coalition of real estate interests and the local police union are seeking to oust Lopez, largely over her votes in favor of rent control and cutting the police budget. Lopez says she has prioritized the needs of working families.
What's next? Orange County Registrar Bob Page told LAist in an email Tuesday that the election will proceed as planned given the judge's decision and the fact that "we have still not received new City direction."
An Orange County Superior Court judge on Tuesday denied a voter's request to halt a controversial recall election against a Santa Ana city council member.
The integrity of the election on whether to oust Councilmember Jessie Lopez first came under legal scrutiny when Orange County Registrar Bob Page alerted the city in late October to what he said was an error in the district boundaries used to define the recall.
State law requires that, in the case of a local recall election, ballots go to voters within the district boundaries as they existed when the official was elected. Santa Ana, like many cities in California, went through redistricting after the 2020 Census and the boundaries of the city's Ward 3, represented by Lopez, shifted while she was in office.
But the city used, and the registrar accepted, the district's current boundaries and population size to determine the number of signatures needed to trigger an election and who should get to vote.
As a result, nearly 1,200 voters who should be able to vote in the Nov. 14 election did not get ballots, according to Page.
How the recall landed in court
One of those voters, Guadalupe Ocampo, filed a legal complaint last Friday alleging she was “deprived of her right to vote in the election." Ocampo asked for an immediate injunction of the recall election.
But O.C. Superior Court Judge Craig Griffin denied the request Tuesday during a hearing in Santa Ana and scheduled another court date for January 2024.
Santa Ana Councilmember Jessie Lopez was elected in 2020 to represent the city's Ward 3.
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City of Santa Ana
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Tim Rush, who chairs the recall campaign against Lopez, said his group followed what they thought was the law. "We did exactly as we were told by the election official," he said.
In this case, the election official is the Santa Ana city clerk. The registrar's office is administering the election on behalf of the city.
In an email to LAist, Lopez said she was “disappointed that our judicial system is allowing this illegitimate recall — and with it the disenfranchisement of more than 1,100 voters who are overwhelmingly Latino, renters, and mobile home residents — to move forward."
Lopez told LAist she is encouraging residents who didn't get a ballot but were part of her district when she was elected to ask for a provisional ballot.
Learn more about the legal debate
LAist spoke with six outside election experts to get their opinions on the Santa Ana recall snafu, two of them county registrars of voters. Read more here.
What this means for Santa Ana voters
Page, the registrar, told LAist in an email Tuesday that the election will proceed as planned given the judge's decision and the fact that "we have still not received new City direction."
In a special meeting last week, the Santa Ana City Council deadlocked 3-3 on whether to cancel the election. (Lopez recused herself.) One council member said they want a judge to make the call.
Voters can still participate in the election — vote centers are open through Nov. 14.
