Ballot Recount Begins in Race Lost by Dornan

With representatives of both sides watching, county workers sorted through 11,000 absentee ballot envelopes Monday as they began a recount on behalf of defeated Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

The process of reviewing 15,000 more envelopes for signatures and irregularities will continue today, with actual ballot counting beginning Wednesday.

“We are in the research phase, looking to see if there is fire behind the smoke” of potential election fraud, said Alex Armstrong, who was helping oversee the recount for Dornan.

Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever told Dornan’s representatives that actual ballot counting must begin by Wednesday, though election workers could simultaneously continue reviewing “ancillary material” such as envelopes and voter signatures, if Dornan chooses to continue that process.

It costs Dornan a minimum of $358 a day to conduct the review, and he is permitted to determine what is looked at and in what order. Lever, however, may order that counting take place and ask that he pay for additional people to do that.

“We will definitely go on for one more day [looking at the ancillary material] and each day will tell us more,” said Dornan attorney William Hart, who was coordinating the recount Monday. He was to meet with Dornan on Monday evening.

Representatives of Rep.-elect Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) said that little was uncovered in the first day that would indicate there is sufficient error to overturn her 984-vote victory.

“They have got to demonstrate a pattern or practice of negligence or fraud, and there is nothing even close to that,” said Chris Sautter, a recount expert with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who was an observer Monday. “In fact, what they are seeing is just the opposite. The election officials did a pretty good job.”

Also observing were five employees of the Oversight Committee of the House of Representatives. The House is the final judge of elections of its members.

In the initial review, Dornan’s team was looking for irregularities in absentee ballot envelopes turned in at polling places on election day. Dornan has charged that the heavy use of absentee ballots turned in that day amounted to “prima facie proof” of fraud.

Dornan’s representatives took particular note of any envelopes handed in at the polling place by someone other than the voter or those that appeared to lack a valid signature of the voter.

The law requires that the voter must mail or personally deliver an absentee ballot to a polling place or the registrar’s office. The only exceptions are for illness or disability. In such a case, only an immediate relative of the voter may turn in the ballot, but he or she must sign the envelope and indicate the relationship to the voter.

The review found perhaps 20 cases in which the person delivering the ballot identified himself or herself as a friend, niece, uncle, cousin or some other ineligible person.

Deputy registrar Don Taylor conceded that the ballots inside should not have been counted.

The ballots, however, were separated a month ago from the envelopes to preserve the secrecy of the voting process, and it is impossible to determine who those persons voted for. As a result, Dornan would have to find a widespread pattern of mistakes for a court or the House of Representatives to reverse the result.

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Recount Account

Here’s a look at how an election recount works:

* Process is open to the public.

* Once begun, it takes place daily (except weekends and holidays) for at least six hours per day until complete.

* A manual check (rather than a computer recount) is supervised by the registrar of voters and conducted by recount boards, each consisting of four county voters appointed by the registrar.

* Recount is void unless every ballot in every precinct of the district is counted.

* Cost for one to four recount boards is $358 per four-member board per day.

Source: Orange County registrar of voters