> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # de la Torre clear to run for local school board - URL: https://www.smdp.com/de-la-torre-clear-to-run-for-local-school-board/ - Published: 2002-09-30T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:45:46.000Z - Author: Andrew Fixmer - Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import *But challenges to race may lie ahead* City officials have ruled that Oscar de la Torre is allowed to run for a seat on the school board, but a judge may have to decide if he was ever actually a candidate. City Clerk Maria Stewart and City Attorney Marsha Moutrie said no official action will be taken to determine whether de la Torre is an eligible candidate. Instead, if de la Torre wins the election, the results will likely be sorted out in a potential lawsuit brought by whoever lost. “My experience has been if you ask four different people to interpret election law, you’ll get four different opinions,” Stewart said. “The ultimate answer will be if you go to a court and have a judge sort it out.” However, Fred Woocher, de la Torre’s election lawyer, said there is nothing in Santa Monica’s charter that would make his client ineligible. He said any challenge to de la Torre’s candidacy would be defeated. “He’s on the ballot,” Woocher said. “He’s a qualified candidate, and he is going to continue to run for office. If someone wants to try and convince a judge he is not qualified, that is their burden.” As for de la Torre, he said his campaign has not stopped focusing on the issues. He said his campaign will hold a rally on Thursday in front of City Hall to celebrate that he is still in the race and to rally his supporters. “We have a major crisis in this community when it comes to education and some so-called community leaders would rather focus on voter registration time-lines than talk about the issues,” he said. Stewart challenged de la Torre’s candidacy on Sept. 19 for not being a registered Santa Monica voter when he first filed his intention to run for public office on July 17. But by the time Stewart raised the issue of de la Torre’s candidacy, the November ballot for the county had already been sent to be printed. And the city had to send its ballot, with de la Torre’s name on it, to be printed Sept. 24. State election code requires candidates to be able to vote for the office they intend to become a candidate for, and officials with the Los Angeles County Registrar said de la Torre first registered as a Santa Monica voter on Aug. 5, more than two weeks after he publicly decided to run. > “No wonder public education needs stronger leadership.” Last week, de la Torre submitted a photocopy of an overseas voter registration form dated July 16\. The form was filled out during a “Rock the Vote” registration drive, he said. The Los Angeles County Registrar does not have a copy of the form on file, but Woocher said he has tracked down Bill Ruiz, the individual who ran the voter registration program. Ruiz said he mailed out the forms that day, but Woocher said at least three other individuals who did the same thing were never registered by the county. Woocher believes the form either got lost in the mail, or it was sent to the California secretary of state by mistake. “We’re working on tracking down that form,” he said. De la Torre said he made a photocopy of the form because, unlike California voter registration forms, the federal form did not have a receipt proving the document had been filled out. “I wanted it for my own records,” he said. “Usually when you fill out the forms you get a receipt and this form did not have one.” When a letter from the registrar’s office did not arrive confirming he had changed his registration, de la Torre re-registered to vote on Aug. 5 to comply with state law that allow only registered voters to circulate petitions to run for office. “I wanted to cover myself and make sure I was in fact registered,” he said. “This is the first time I’m running for office.” > “I wanted to cover myself and make sure I was in fact registered.This is the first time I’m running for office.” — — OSCAR DE LA TORRE School board candidate “It’s been a real learning experience for me,” he added. “That’s for sure.” Woocher said Santa Monica’s city charter runs local elections, not the state election codes. According to the city’s bylaws, Woocher said there is no requirement to be a registered Santa Monica voter when a candidate first pulls nomination papers. A candidate only needs to be a registered voter and live in the district at the time they are elected to office, he said. “I don’t believe anybody looked to see if the section applied,” Woocher said. “Then they said it’s not our responsibility, it’s the county’s, but that’s not true because it’s a city election.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 30, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/093002.pdf?ref=smdp.com)