School board candidate may not qualify for ballot
The Santa Monica Clerk’s office sent the city’s ballot to the printers Tuesday even though doubts remain about the eligibility of one school board candidate.
Even though he will appear on both the city and the county ballot, Oscar de la Torre could be disqualified as a candidate because the city clerk’s office believes he may not have been a registered Santa Monica voter when he initially indicated he would run for office on July 17, 2002.
The state’s election code mandates candidates must be able to vote for the office they are seeking when they first file their intention to run for office. County election records indicate de la Torre had not registered as a Santa Monica voter until Aug. 5.
However, on Tuesday de la Torre submitted a photocopy of an overseas voter registration form dated July 16, that contained his name and a Santa Monica address, officials said.
County election officials had previously said de la Torre first registered to vote in 1992 at a Los Angeles address. On Aug. 5, he changed his registration to a Santa Monica address as a member of the American Independent Party. Then on Aug. 25 he changed his party affiliation to the Democratic Party.
“That’s all the registration information we have for Mr. de la Torre,” said Grace Chavez, a county elections spokeswoman.
County officials said they are investigating the overseas ballot de la Torre provided and they are trying to verify whether or not an original form is on file. If the original can be located, de la Torre would be considered eligible to run for office, city officials said.
“It’s not uncommon that during voter registration drives that not every registration form is put into the system right away,” said Christine Heffron, a county elections supervisor. “We need to check whether this form is sitting in a tray or in a stack of paperwork somewhere.” de la Torre was unavailable for comment Tuesday. However, he did say on Monday that he is investigating the matter and is committed to education in Santa Monica.
Assistant City Clerk Beth Sanchez said no formal decision has been made whether de la Torre is eligible to run for the school board seat. The city attorney’s office is still investigating legal questions surrounding his candidacy, Sanchez said.
In the meantime, the city had to meet a Tuesday deadline to have its ballot printed in time for the November elections, officials said. To make the cut-off, city officials sent the ballot with de la Torre’s name on it.
“We are going forward with the ballot as it stands,” Sanchez said. “No final decision had been made (about de la Torre) and we had a deadline to make.”
“No final decision had been made (about de la Torre) and we had a deadline to make.” — — BETH SANCHEZ Assistant City Clerk
Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, a renters group that has dominated local politics for decades, has endorsed de la Torre, who is seen as a front-runner in a six-way race for three school board seats up for grabs this year.
No determination has been made as to what would happen if de la Torre was deemed ineligible as a candidate by the city clerk but won the election because his name appeared on the ballot.
“We would have to cross that bridge when we came to it,” Sanchez said. “If that did happen, we would have to talk to the city attorney and deal with it then.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 25, 2002. Read the original PDF.