MISSION VIEJO : Error Conceded, but Ballot Won’t Change

The county registrar of voters admits he goofed by letting Saddleback Valley school board appointee Roberta Cline list herself as a “governing board member” on the Nov. 6 ballot.

But Registrar Donald Tanney said it’s too late to change it.

Cline, who was appointed to the school board on July 11, did not inform Tanney that she was an appointee when she requested the incumbent designation, he said. But school district officials previously had notified the registrar’s office of Cline’s appointment.

“There’s no question we made an error here in this department,” Tanney said. “We had knowledge she was appointed; my staff should not have allowed her to use the governing board member designation.”

But with the election just five weeks away, it’s too late to reprint the ballots. The county will issue a public notice correcting the error, and county lawyers are trying to determine if the county is liable for the error, Tanney said.

Registrar officials discovered the mistake after school board candidate Charles Wall charged that Cline had violated district election laws and was falsely representing herself as an incumbent by using the title.

“Someone who was appointed just a few months before the election should not have an unfair advantage over the rest of the challengers,” Wall said.

But Cline said she had never heard of the ordinance and was told by the registrar employees to use the title.

“There’s no way I want to mislead anyone,” Cline said. Ironically, Cline recently received a joint endorsement along with Wall from the district’s classified employees union. But Cline said she hopes that the endorsement will not pair her with Wall in voters’ minds.

“I want to distance myself from (Wall’s) campaign. I’m concerned about a negative approach from someone who hasn’t shown a great deal of involvement in the schools up to this point.”