D.A. investigates mishandling of ballots

Alicia Robinson

The Orange County District Attorney’s office is investigating the

mishandling of ballots by a volunteer for Van Tran, a Republican

candidate for the 68th District Assembly seat.

The Tran campaign called the situation “an innocent mistake,” but

political opponent Mark Leyes said it is evidence of farther-reaching

voter fraud.

On Feb. 9 and 10, a representative of Tran’s campaign delivered a

number of absentee ballots to the Orange County Registrar of Voters’

office along with letters from the voters requesting new Republican

ballots for the primary, assistant registrar of voters Suzanne

Slupsky said.

He also brought six absentee ballots that had been filled out by

voters, she said. State election codes state that only election

officials or poll workers can receive voted ballots, Slupsky said.

“What we told the representative is that there is a statute that

stipulates that voters will only return their ballots to a poll

worker or the Registrar of Voters,” she said.

Absentee voters who have declined to state party affiliation can

request ballots for the Republican, Democratic and American

Independent parties in primary elections, Slupsky said. The Registrar

of Voters would mail the requested ballot to the voter after

receiving a request in writing or in person.

Her office referred the matter to the Orange County District

Attorney on Feb. 13, she said.

The volunteer was asked by some voters to deliver their ballots

and their requests for Republican ballots, said Tran campaign

consultant Wayne Johnson.

“The clerk told him, ‘No, you can’t do that; they have to bring it

in themselves,’” Johnson said of the voted ballots.

“It was an innocent mistake and in every other respect we’re

completely complying with the law,” he said.

Leyes called a press conference on the issue Friday afternoon

outside the Registrar of Voters’ office to ask the U.S. attorney’s

office to investigate the issue.

Leyes said he’s heard numerous times about people asking

Vietnamese voters for their absentee ballots, offering to deliver

them or actually vote for them. “That’s not fair, that’s not right,

it’s not legal,” Leyes said.

Leyes considers the incident reported by the Registrar of Voters

as tangible evidence of voter fraud.

“It lends a lot of credence to the idea that this is occurring,”

Leyes said.

Orange County Assistant District Attorney Douglas Woodsmall

confirmed his office had been contacted by the Registrar of Voters

office about the ballots and added that it’s not uncommon for his

office to receive such information during election season.

“There’s a possibility that the attorney general might be the one

that ends up reviewing it, so we’ll contact them and find out if they

think it’s more appropriate for them to review it,” he said.

The matter could be referred to the state attorney general because

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has endorsed Tran,

Woodsmall said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.