Losers File Suit Over Carson Council Race

Four of the 16 candidates who were declared losers in last month’s Carson City Council races have filed a suit charging that the two incumbent winners used the help of unqualified voters.

Vera Robles DeWitt, Roye Love, Clifford Cannon and Carl E. Robinson allege in their Superior Court suit filed last week that Elito M. Santarina and Julie Ruiz Raber violated the elections code.

The suit also charges that the precinct board conducting the March 4 balloting committed errors sufficient to change the outcome of the election for the two open seats.

Raber called the allegations in the suit ridiculous. “All I can say is that it sounds to me like sour grapes,” she said Tuesday.

Santarina agreed. “We did everything by the rules,” he said.

The election was held to fill vacancies left last year when two council members resigned after pleading guilty to extortion and related charges.

The city’s government has also been rocked by accusations that several city officials solicited bribes in exchange for votes on city contracts.

The election drew 18 candidates, with the seats going to the two top vote-getters. The results showed Santarina first with 2,887 votes and Raber second, with 1,974. DeWitt finished third, with 1,817; Cannon fourth, with 1,664; Robinson seventh, with 1,261; and Love 10th, with 713.

The suit alleges that unqualified people were registered to vote, and blames Santarina, Raber and their associates. It also accuses them of electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place on election day in violation of the elections code.

Santarina and his associates also are accused of assisting in the submission of fraudulent absentee ballots.

Frederick Woocher, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the suit is based on information gathered from voter registration records, witnesses and other sources.

“If people truly desire to corrupt the system, it can be done,” he said. “The bottom line in Carson is that for several years, just prior to election, a curiously large number of people show up on the registration rolls.”