March 09, 2007

"Judge forbids second 1st District 'recount'"

"A judge Wednesday narrowed Trung Nguyen's legal challenge to the 1st District supervisor election by refusing a request to examine hundreds of thousands of ballots, saying it would be "another recount."

Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner turned down the plea to see more than 178,385 documents, including absentee and provisional ballots, because Nguyen's lawyers already saw them during the Registrar of Voters Office recount.

Nguyen, who came in second to Janet Nguyen by seven votes, is suing in hopes of changing the outcome or invalidating the Feb. 6 special election.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has voted twice to put off declaring Janet Nguyen the winner until the judge makes a decision, expected after a March 21 trial.

Michael Houston, an attorney for Trung Nguyen, said they believed seven to nine ballots cast for Janet Nguyen could be found invalid because they suspected there were two instances in which one person cast several votes.

Leon Page, a county lawyer representing Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley, urged Brenner to refuse Trung Nguyen's request, saying they have no proof any ballots were mishandled and that the county was concerned about keeping voter records private."

Posted by Randy Riddle at March 9, 2007 09:02 AM