Dornan Files Request for Vote Recount

Rep. Robert K. Dornan, the outspoken conservative Republican who has blamed his 984-vote loss to Democrat Loretta Sanchez on fraud, asked for a recount late Monday afternoon, barely making the deadline to start the process.

Also requesting a recount was Lou Correa, the Democratic Assembly candidate who lost to incumbent Jim Morrissey (R-Santa Ana) by 93 votes in the 69th District.

Orange County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever said her office probably would begin the process next Monday by providing materials requested by both candidates, including absentee and provisional ballots.

After reviewing those materials, both candidates will decide whether to pursue a full recount.

Lever said a manual recount of the ballots “is not going to change the outcome of [the Dornan-Sanchez] race.” However, both candidates are seeking information that could sustain their claims that the voting process wasn’t fair.

“We’re looking at this for diametrically different reasons,” said Correa of the two requests. Dornan “is looking for people who voted and shouldn’t have. I’m looking for people who didn’t get to vote and should have.”

Dornan, who has been uncharacteristically silent in recent days, could not be reached for comment and did not appear at the registrar’s office. Instead, his written request was delivered by a courier who slipped past television news crews and several reporters and left an envelope on the counter.

The deadline for requesting a recount was 5 p.m. Monday.

Since the day he slipped behind Sanchez during the count of absentee ballots, Dornan has complained of fraud in the voting process. The Garden Grove congressman initially said large numbers of noncitizens voted, and later claimed that ballot boxes were not properly protected.

Marty Stone, a political consultant who has been observing the vote count and its aftermath for the Democratic Central Campaign Committee, said he talked with Sanchez by phone Monday morning.

“She doesn’t think he stands a chance, and it’s just sour grapes,” he said of Dornan’s request.

Dornan’s three-paragraph request, written on congressional stationary, was open-ended. He asked to look over absentee and provisional ballots that were counted and those that were rejected, and then to “proceed from there.”

A full recount can be expensive. Both candidates must pay the registrar’s office at least $358 a day for four staff members, known as a board. If there is a large quantity of work, several boards may be used at the same time, and the cost could be triple or more.

In addition, the candidates are likely to hire specialists in vote recounts. “It’s a lot of money,” Correa said. “I’ve heard as high as $20,000 to $50,000. That’s why I was kind of borderline about doing this.”

If an election result is overturned as the result of a recount, the money collected by the registrar’s office is refunded, Lever said.

Correa predicted a recount would bring him closer to Morrissey, but he stopped short of predicting a win. In the 69th Assembly District, about 300 provisional ballots were rejected by the registrar’s office for various reasons. Correa said he and volunteers would inspect each of the rejected ballots to be sure the reasons were valid.

If candidates wish to pursue their claims further after exhausting the recount process, the next step is a court challenge.