BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — An amended petition for writ of mandate was filed in Kern County Superior Court in December asking the court to annul the November general election results and certification in the Greenfield Union School District Area C Trustee race.
- After the election, it was discovered that 108 ballots were misassigned to the area and out of those 57 were voted.
- According to the court filing, email exchanges between school legal counsel and Kern County Registrar of Voters Aimee Espinoza confirmed that "there is no way for us to identify which ballots belong to these specific voters."
An amended petition for writ of mandate was filed in Kern County Superior Court in December asking the court to annul the November general election results and certification in the Greenfield Union School District Area C Trustee race.
Court filings outline the requests on behalf of GUSD and petitioner Jennifer Estrada—a qualified voter in the district's Trustee Area C.
Those requests include asking the court to annul and set aside the certification of the trustee election for Area C because illegal votes were cast, compel the elections division to correct the legal defects and schedule a special election, confirm the office shall be vacant pending the special election, and award petitioners the cost of attorney's fees and any pursuant to the lawsuit.
The amended writ was filed on December 20, the day after victor Mercy Pena was sworn in. Pena won the election with a slight margin of 8 votes. After the election, it was discovered that 108 ballots were misassigned to the area and out of those 57 were voted.
According to the court filing, email exchanges between school legal counsel and Kern County Registrar of Voters Aimee Espinoza confirmed that "there is no way for us to identify which ballots belong to these specific voters."
While Espinoza previously told 23ABC that a special election for this area would cost around $28,000, it's unknown at this time how much the county would have to pay should a judge grant petitioners' request to pay legal fees in this suit.
The next hearing scheduled in the suit is a case management conference on February 7.
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