Riverside County Says No to Vote Probe

The Riverside County district attorney’s office announced Tuesday that it will not formally investigate allegations that the county’s registrar of voters allowed outsiders to interfere with vote counting on election night, March 2.

The allegations, by political supporters of a Board of Supervisors candidate who narrowly lost the chance for a November runoff, were “deemed unfounded,” according to prosecutors.

“It’s good news,” said Mischelle Townsend, the registrar. “We were very pleased to receive it. ... It was a validation of our process.”

Two supporters of Linda Soubirous, who lost the chance for a runoff with incumbent Supervisor Bob Buster by 35 votes, allege that employees of the company that makes the county’s electronic voting system improperly accessed the tabulating machine on election night.

Townsend asked the district attorney’s office to investigate the allegations.

The D.A.’s office said in a written statement that neither Townsend nor representatives from Sequoia Voting Systems violated the law.

“The registrar of voters has the legal authority under the election code to employ or authorize system experts to be at the counting site during the tabulation of ballots.”

“This practice is widespread throughout the State of California and is an important safeguard in insuring that the counting systems function properly on election day so the results can be reported without delay,” the office wrote.

Art Cassel, one of the Soubirous supporters who made the allegations, called the inquiry a “whitewash.”

He said he was never contacted by the district attorney’s office, and he vowed to press state officials to pursue the matter.