O.C. registrar is told to continue counting petition signatures

An Orange County Superior Court judge Wednesday said the counting of signatures should continue on petitions aimed at removing an Anaheim schools trustee from office and forcing a special election to fill the post, despite the trustee’s resignation.

But another judge will decide Sept. 17 whether the Anaheim Union High School District board can appoint someone to fill the vacant post or, if enough signatures are deemed valid, whether a special election must be scheduled.

The registrar of voters was in the midst of verifying the signatures when controversial Trustee Harald Martin announced his resignation Aug. 30.

The next day, the county Department of Education ordered the registrar to stop counting, a decision that Judge Gregory H. Lewis overturned Wednesday.

“The count was in progress,” Lewis said. “It doesn’t smell good. . . . The people have asked for an election, and the count should not stop.”

The school board appointed Martin in July to fill a board position left vacant by the death of trustee Denise Mansfield-Reinking.

Voters tossed Martin from the school board in 2002 after, among other things, he proposed billing Mexico for educating illegal immigrants. The retired police officer ran for the school board in November and came in seventh out of eight candidates.

Martin’s appointment spurred an unusual coalition of liberals and conservatives to gather the 2,300 signatures required by state law to force the district to rescind the appointment and hold a special election to fill the post. They gathered about 5,000 signatures.

Attorneys for the Department of Education argued that the education code allowed the school district to decide what to do when a vacancy occurred, and that Martin’s resignation ought to be considered a new vacancy.

Mark Rosen, the attorney representing the signature gatherers, argued that Martin’s resignation should not rob voters of their right to call an election.

Leon J. Page, an attorney for the registrar, said he expected the signature verification process to be completed early next week.

seema.mehta@latimes.com