Bates Sues to Overturn His Election Loss

Arguing that San Diego County officials improperly handled absentee ballots in last month’s election, an attorney for defeated Rep. Jim Bates has filed a lawsuit aimed at overturning his loss to Republican Randall (Duke) Cunningham by disallowing the contested votes.

In what even Bates (D-San Diego) concedes is a long-shot bid to reverse in court what happened at the polls, attorney Michael Aguirre charged in a Superior Court lawsuit Monday that local election officials used a “new and unlawful procedure” for verifying thousands of absentee ballots in the 44th Congressional District race.

As a result, Bates’ attorney contends, invalid absentee ballots may have been tabulated in the Nov. 6 race, contributing to Cunningham’s narrow 46%-45% victory.

Cunningham’s supporters, however, view the lawsuit as simply a legally spurious attempt to preserve Bates’ eight-year congressional career in case the recount that he recently requested fails, as expected, to change the outcome. That recount, which started last week, may be completed later this week.

“It looks like he’s trying to take an election that was won fair and square, and find a way to get it back for himself through a lot of legal machinations,” said Tex Burkett, Cunningham’s campaign manager.

In the lawsuit, Bates’ attorney charges that San Diego County Registrar of Voters Conny McCormack violated state law by failing to compare signatures on absentee ballot applications with voters’ original registration records.

Instead, the registrar’s office delivered absentee ballots to any applicant whose request listed the same address as that on the original registration affidavit, Aguirre said. In addition, Aguirre noted that the registrar’s internal procedures allow family members to apply for absentee ballots for relatives.

But Ingrid Gonzales, the county’s deputy voter registrar, said guidelines used by 37 California counties permit election officials to verify only the signature on the absentee ballot itself, not on the application.