Election Case Dropped Over Lack of Evidence

The district attorney’s office said Monday that there is insufficient evidence to charge Councilman Manuel Lozano with any crime following an investigation into allegations of election fraud.

City Clerk Linda Gair had alleged that before the March 1997 City Council election, Lozano’s brother had turned in 37 absentee ballot applications that she believed were falsified.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Krag wrote that while an investigation had found that at least nine of the 10 applications reviewed had been requested without the knowledge of the applicant, there was not enough evidence to prove who had falsely prepared them.

Krag said Gair’s statement was the only link to Guadalupe Lozano, who denied the allegations. Manuel Lozano also denied any knowledge of the applications.

“The circumstantial evidence presented through Gair linking Guadalupe Lozano with the applications, even when considered with the fact that some of the actual people named in the false applications knew the Lozano family, does not rise to the level of legally sufficient admissible evidence of identity,” Krag wrote.

Krag noted Gair and Manuel Lozano are “politically at odds,” and bias could impair testimony. Lozano voted with the council majority in August to eliminate Gair’s $68,000 job.