Posted on 08/13/2002 2:39:35 PM PDT by chance33_98
Voters to decide fate of current mayor; Investigators expected to be in Arvin By Tricia Hua KGET 17 News 08/13/02
Arvin - Today, voters in Arvin will decide two things: whether Mayor Juan Olivares should be recalled, and if so, should challenger Joet Stoner replace him. Investigators from the secretary of state's office have already been in Arvin and they are expected to be back today.
They will work with the district attorney's office to maintain the integrity of the election and make sure there is no fishy business.
All it takes is a simple majority for the mayor to be recalled.
The elections office will have troubleshooters at both polling places to make sure there is no illegal electioneering. Agents with the secretary of state's office will also be on the lookout around town.
The agency cannot comment on exactly what its voter fraud agents will be doing.
The reason the election's office is taking the extra precautions has to do with what the district attorney's office says it found during the last election in Arvin.
"We did find that there had been some things that indicated fraud had taken place," said Deputy District Attorney Michael Yraceburn. "There were two instances of where actual voters had showed up at the polls and found that someone had forged their name and voted."
The DA's office had enough for an investigation, but had no idea who to investigate. As a result, every person who committed voter fraud got away with it in that 2000 election in Arvin.
The DA's office has already completed a series of investigations into today's recall vote.
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