Supervisors refer ROV investigation to Election
Center to avoid dealing with controversy directly
Editorial, The Orange County
Register
"The Orange County Board of Supervisors has seemed
reluctant to tackle a potentially serious problem in
one of the most important offices in the county: the
Registrar of Voters. If the registrar is not
operating efficiently or fairly, the public could
start to question the validity of the entire election
process. It would be troubling to head down that road
... Rather than deal with the problem directly, the
Board of Supervisors hired ... the Houston-based
Elections Center, to review the specific allegations
regarding the Orange County registrar's behavior in
the Capo recall fracas."
Like Waldrip, the Election Center was good choice for
a whitewash investigation
Editorial, The Orange County
Register
"The Elections Center is a trade group that
represents registrars and election workers. Its Web
site is filled with information about how hard they
work, etc., so the skeptic in us thought it unlikely
that the center would be too harsh with one of its
own. We weren't surprised, then, by the tone or
conclusions of the investigation. It confirmed
problems that have been printed in the newspapers,
but excused Mr. Kelley's behavior: Yes, he made
mistakes, but he didn't mean to."
Registrar's errors leaned suspiciously in school
district's favor
Editorial, The Orange County
Register
"We find it odd that all of the registrar's mistakes
leaned in one direction, especially in light of Mr.
Smollar's accusations ... For instance, the possibly
illegal action involved showing signed petitions,
including names and addresses of the signers, to the
Capo district. The registrar also incorrectly told
the district that the recall election would cost the
school district $600,000, when in reality the county
pays for such elections. This mattered because the
district then used that information as a prime part
of its campaign against the recall. The report said
Mr. Kelley learned about his mistake in December but
didn't disclose that information for another month,
according to published reports."
Election Center prepared report without input from
key witness
Editorial, The Orange County
Register
"David Smollar, the former district spokesman who
blew the whistle on the wrongdoing, told the Register
that he was told by an elections official and by a
colleague in his district that Mr. Kelley was bending
the rules to allow them to see the petitions. Yet Mr.
Smollar said that the Elections Center never tried to
contact him, despite claims by the center that it did
leave messages."
Election Center report cost $25,000, resolved no
material issues and offered trival suggestions
Editorial, The Orange County
Register
"The Board of Supervisors is left in the same place
it was before it spent $25,000 on this report: There
is still debate over the competence and fairness of
how the registrar's office is being run. The board
needs to decide – publicly, we prefer, and after
hearing from Messrs. Smollar and Kelley – if this is
the way they want elections handled in Orange County
... The report did offer a range of banal, but useful
suggestions. For instance, it recommended that
written procedures should be developed to handle
recalls and that user-friendly handouts should be
available for petitioners."
Greenhut hopes Neal Kelley will resign due to acts of
illegality and favoritism
Steven Greenhut, The Orange County
Register
"Before I left, I read that our new registrar of
voters, Neal Kelley, illegally provided signature
information to Fleming’s district. While I was gone,
the L.A. Times reported that Kelley also provided
info to the district about the progress of the recall
– information he didn’t share with the other side.
Such acts of illegality and favoritism undermine the
sense of fairness that is essential in a registrar’s
office. Maybe Kelley will follow the lead of Fleming
and resign, which would at least cap a week of
disturbing but typical news with something positive."
Greenhut
is senior editorial writier and columnist for The
Orange County Register.
Registrar's conduct could undermine legitimacy of
democratic process
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The registrar is
charged with maintaining the integrity of the
election process. The legitimacy of the democratic
process can be undermined if the office charged
with maintaining fair elections is viewed as
unfairly helping one side in a recall
election."
Registrar admits not knowing law restricting access
to recall petitions
Editorial, The Orange County
Register
"[Kelly] adamantly defended the office’s methods,
insisting that he followed the precise rules for
counting. Yet it appears that Mr. Kelley’s office
wasn’t quite so precise in carrying out the law when
it came to handling the petitions, allowing Capo
administrators and other community officials access
to petition data. Mr. Kelley said his office was
unaware at the time that state law allows only the 10
original recall proponents to see the
data."
Outside investigations in order for both CUSD and
registrar
Editorial, The Orange County
Register
"The scandals that demand outside investigation are
twofold: the behavior of Mr. Fleming and his
administration and the performance of the Registrar
of Voters office. The former should be conducted by
the district attorney, the latter by the Board of
Supervisors."
