Absentee Ballots Mailed in Error to Cypress Voters : Recall: Activists trying to oust three City Council members say the unsolicited forms were sent to about 1,000 people to sway them. Officials blame a computer glitch.

In this politically tense city, which has a recall election against three council members Nov. 7, fingers were being pointed Friday after about 1,000 unsolicited absentee ballots were mistakenly mailed out this week.

Pro-recall activists on Friday charged that city government deliberately and fraudulently sent out the unrequested absentee ballots in hopes of propping up the besieged council members.

“I suspect this is a deliberate attempt to try to fix this election,” said Tony Smith, a pro-recall leader.

But City Atty. John E. Cavanaugh said the ballots were erroneously mailed because of an election consultant’s computer error. “It’s nonsense to say that fraud is involved,” Cavanaugh said.

Cavanaugh said a consulting firm, the Martin & Chapman Co., provides the city its ballot materials, including mailing stickers to people with long-term disabilities, who are considered “permanent absentee” voters. State law allows such disabled people to be on a list to get absentee ballots every election without having to write for them.

Cypress normally has a list of about 200 permanent absentee voters.

Cavanaugh said a computer glitch caused Martin & Chapman to send the city mailing stickers for an additional 2,424 registered voters who are not permanent absentees. About 1,000 absentee ballots were mailed out by the city clerk’s office before the mistake was caught, Cavanaugh said.

Paul Marshal, vice president of Martin & Chapman, confirmed on Friday that his company had made a computer error. “It certainly was not anything of the city’s doing,” Marshal said.

“It was inadvertent,” Cavanaugh said. “Now Martin & Chapman is going to mail out a letter [to those who got the erroneous absentee ballots] to explain what happened. Each of those voters will have the option of either using the absentee ballot or going to the polls [on Nov. 7].”

Recall activists Smith and Bob Pepper, however, said they distrust Cavanaugh and virtually all other incumbent city officials. The recall seeks to oust three City Council members: Mayor Cecilia L. Age, Councilwoman Gail H. Kerry and Councilman Walter K. Bowman. They were targeted because of their vote last year for a controversial carpet-distribution warehouse.

“We don’t trust Cavanaugh because he’s given us misinformation in the past,” Smith said. Pepper added, “We’re worried about what will happen to those absentee ballots that are mailed back to the city. There’s the situation where the fox will be guarding the henhouse with these ballots. I plain don’t trust the system.”

Smith said he and Pepper would be contacting the state secretary of state’s office in Sacramento to protest the unsolicited absentee ballots. “I think the [recall] election should now be rescheduled,” Smith said.

Cavanaugh, however, said there is no legal need for rescheduling the election. He said no voter will be adversely affected, and that controls are in place so that no one can vote twice.

Councilman Tom Carroll is among the 1,000 voters who received one of the unsolicited absentee ballots. In an interview, Carroll noted that he has been essentially neutral in the recall battle. He added that he sees no city “plot” behind the absentee-ballot error. “Absolutely not,” Carroll said. He added that he accepts the explanation about a computer error.