Election Audit Lawsuit
Direct link to this page:
https://copswiki.org/Common/ElectionAuditLawsuit
Background
This lawsuit is regarding the 1% manual audit which is mandated by California Election code section 15360. That code specifies that all ballots cast including Vote-by-mail ballots, are to be included in the set of ballots from which 1% of the precincts (or batches) are randomly drawn, then hand-tallied and compared with the computer result. The following graphic puts the overall process in context.
Graphic describing election flow and audit process
In San Diego, approximately 285,000 ballots were excluded from the audit process, about 37%. Ray Lutz of Citizens Oversight asked that they be included in the audit, and the Registrar of Voters,
Michael Vu, declined. This lawsuit was then filed to compel compliance with the law. The initial injunction could not be processed in time to stop certification of the primary results. However, Judge Joel Wohlfeil said the plaintiffs were likely to prevail, and he said the request for declaratory relief was not moot. The trial is to be held Oct 4-7, 2016 in San Diego Superior Court, Department 73.
Please see the following topic for background and all related files. Review the current topic to find all related posts to this project.
Images
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Timeline
- 16 Jun 2016 - Initial lawsuit filed in Pro per for declaratory relief. Main Complaint and Exhibits
- 17 Jun 2016 - Press Conference regarding the lawsuit
- Contracted services of Alan Geraci, Attorney.
- Filed amended complaint, adding request for injunctive relief
- 28 Jun 2016 - Second press conference introducing Alan Geraci
- 24 Jun 2016 - Filing of Temporary Restraining Order / Injunction to stop certification in San Diego.
- 30 Jun 2016 - Reply of County filed.
- 06 Jul 2016 - Hearing before Judge Wohlfeil in San Diego Superior Court, Dept. 73
- 07 Jul 2016 - Deadline to certify elections by counties in California
- 24 Jul 2016 - Ruling by Judge Wohlfeil, See M 1670
- 01 Sep 2016 - Deposition of Michael Vu, San Diego Registrar of Voters.
- 09 Sep 2016 - 12 Sep 2016 - Deposition of Ray Lutz
- 15 Sep 2016 - Deposed witnesses Diane Elsheikh, Charlie Wallis
- 23 Sep 2016 - Trial Readiness meeting. Trial date changed to Oct 4.
- 23 Sep 2016 - Telephonic appearance by witness Julie Rodewald, retired county clerk and registrar for San Luis Obispo County.
- 03 Oct 2016 - Pre Trial press conference.
- 04 Oct 2016 - Start of the Trial
- 11 Oct 2016 - Last day of the Trial
- 26 Oct 2016 - Statement of Intended Decision published by the Court.
- 10 Nov 2016 - Objections submitted to the SOID
- 01 Dec 2016 - Case Status Conference (3pm)
- 10 Jan 2017 - Judgment in our favor
- xx Jan 2017 - County appeals the ruling (because they think later VBM and provisionals should not be included in the sample.)
- 15 Mar 2017 - We appeal the ruling (because we believe provisionals should also be included in the sample).
- 15 Aug 2017 - Notice of record filed (full transcripts of trial)
- 24 Aug 2017 - AB-840 Amended to restrict required manual tally to early VBM and polls ballots (not required to include later VBM nor provisionals).
Links in response to San Diego County Counsel Questions
San Diego County Attorney Timothy Barry (representing the County and Michael Vu) has asked me a number of questions during the first part of my deposition. Here are some links and information I promised to provide. In addition, the Media Summary, below, has been updated to include all collected media on this site relevant to this proceeding.
- Snapshot Protocol -- A description of the procedure developed to provide oversight to election audits. This procedure is continuing to be refined as we extend it to other states.
- Election Team -- Procedures and information related to extending the Snapshot Protocol to our first target, 175 top counties in the nation.
- Open Ballot Initiative -- Proposal to use off-the-shelf equipment to image ballots and then allow various parties to apply any recognition software they want, including proprietary and off-the-shelf products. This approach streamlines any challenges to the election as anyone can easily buy digital media containing all the ballot images and conduct a 100% audit if they want to, or view them all manually.
- Election Integrity -- The overarching project which contains a number of sub-projects.
- Elections.Web Home -- We have started a "web" space which is dedicated to archiving audit information. California Counties have been loaded into this archive and we are extending to other states.
- Precinct Roster Review -- This is the work our team preformed in August and early Sept 2016. The official preliminary report is not yet published.
- Precincts with zero crossover NPP voters
Seq |
Precinct |
Area |
NPP/DEM |
NPP/NPP |
32 |
110150 |
Rancho Penasquitos |
0 |
33 |
219 |
160310 |
Clairemont E |
0 |
23 |
344 |
223500 |
Pacific Beach |
0 |
31 |
422 |
272700 |
Normal Heights |
0 |
37 |
485 |
307400 |
South Park |
0 |
49 |
560 |
365000 |
Encanto W |
0 |
44 |
762 |
409210 |
Carlsbad |
0 |
49 |
877 |
423900 |
Vista |
0 |
12 |
950 |
433300 |
San Marcos |
0 |
22 |
991 |
442800 |
Imperial Beach |
0 |
45 |
1082 |
459490 |
Escondido |
0 |
6 |
1157 |
472200 |
El Cajon |
0 |
16 |
1181 |
476010 |
El Cajon |
0 |
37 |
1246 |
499200 |
Spring Valley |
0 |
22 |
1303 |
516800 |
National City |
0 |
37 |
1332 |
528200 |
Chula Vista |
0 |
49 |
1346 |
529520 |
Chula Vista |
0 |
56 |
1392 |
532580 |
Chula Vista |
0 |
36 |
1394 |
532610 |
Chula Vista |
0 |
54 |
1418 |
538500 |
Chula Vista |
0 |
25 |
1431 |
546600 |
Ramona |
0 |
12 |
21 precincts out of our sample of 66, about 1/3
Summary of articles submitted (Add | All):
Number of topics: 59
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(M1978) 2021-09-10 Letter to SOS Weber regarding Recall auditing procedures. -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1947) 2020-07-07 Letter to Gov. Newsom to include all ballots in the audit -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, Please read this topic for specific actions to help us make a difference!
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(CitizensOversightStatusUpdate2019) 2020-04-13 Citizens Oversight Status Update 2019 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1931) 2019-11-04 Earth Summit Presentation: Elections: Stop Scams with Oversight and Audits -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1896) 2019-03-26 Letter to San Diego BOS on Election Integrity for 2019-03-26 meeting -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1892) 2019-03-10 Election Integrity Update -- Ray Lutz -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(CitizensOversightStatusUpdate2018) 2019-02-09 Citizens Oversight Status Update 2018 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1879) 2018-09-10 White Paper: Election Audit Strategy and BRAWL -- Balanced Risk Audit with Workload Limitation -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1868) 2018-08-01 Election Audit Fraud Supreme Court Petition - Conf / Livestream -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1860) 2018-06-22 Formal Complaint Submitted to CA Secy of State to Investigate Malconduct by Michael Vu, San Diego County Registrar of Voters -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
- (M1843) 2018-06-07 Court Hearing on 2016 Primary Contest - Motion to dismiss by County -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1840) 2018-05-07 Letter to Michael Vu regarding 2018 election season and oversight -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1835) 2018-03-20 Ray Lutz appears on Real Progressives Roundtable -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1830) 2018-03-07 Election Integrity Update -- Ray Lutz on Facebook live -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, Includes updates on Election Audit Lawsuit, San Diego Primary Contest 2016, Ballot Access Lawsuit
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(M1829) 2018-02-21 Court Cases Related to Election Integrity in California -- , , Court cases from CACEO website
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(CitizensOversightStatusUpdate2017) 2017-12-20 Citizens Oversight Status Update 2017 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
- (M1806) 2017-12-18 Ex Parte Meeting on Contest -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, San Diego Primary Contest 2016
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(M1847) 2017-10-16 AB-840 Elections: vote by mail and provisional ballots.(2017-2018) -- Assemblymember Bill Quirk, California Legislature, AB-840 (Passed)
- (M1793) 2017-10-13 Court Hearing to Access Ballots in 2016 Primary -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1787) 2017-09-10 Interview of Ray Lutz on KNSJ Radio regarding AB-840 audit gutting bill -- Miriam Raftery, Knsj Radio, AB-840
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(M1785) 2017-08-31 Citizens Oversight OPPOSES AB-840, the bill to gut CA election audits -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, AB-840
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(M1782) 2017-07-30 Man sues county so he can personally recount last year's election votes -- Joshua Stewart, Union Tribune,
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(M1781) 2017-07-28 Press Conf: Lawsuit Filed to Allow Ballot Review -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1735) 2017-03-19 Early VBM Discrepancies in San Diego 2016 Primary -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, CA_SanDiego, Questions to Election Official
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(SanDiegoPrimaryContest2016) 2017-02-02 San Diego Primary Contest 2016 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, Originally filed by attorney Bill Simpich
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(M1824) 2017-01-31 We Won! Press Conference, announcing success in the ElectionAuditLawsuit -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1875) 31 Jan 2017 Judge says county must change vote counting procedures in future elections -- Joshua Stewart, Union Tribune,
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(CitizensOversightStatusUpdate2016) 2016-12-30 Citizens Oversight Status Update 2016 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1715) 2016-11-15 CA_San Diego Nov 2016 Manual Tally -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1708) 2016-11-01 2016-11-01 Press Conference on 'Intended Decision' of Election Audit Lawsuit -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1706) 2016-10-22 20161022 - COPs Party 2016 Presentation -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, Presentation at the 2016 COPs Party.
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(M1703) 2016-10-03 2016 10 03 Pre-trial Election Lawsuit Press Conference -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1704) 2016-09-29 SB-1235 (2006 - Bowen) Legislative History from SOS Archive -- , Secretary of State Archives, Requested by Raymond Lutz for Election Audit Lawsuit. Raymond collected key documents into a single package and underlined relevant passages. Otherwise unmodified.
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(M1702) 2016-09-27 Discovery Request & Response in Lutz vs Vu Case -- , Citizens Oversight,
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(M1701) 2016-09-15 CA Secretary of State Sends "Okay to Rig" Letter, COPS responds. -- Steven J. Reyes, General Counsel for CASOS, CASOS, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1693) 2016-09-06 CPRA -- Procedures of San Diego Registrar of Voters (2016) -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1695) 2016-09-02 Ray Lutz interviewed by Sane Progressive on Election Integrity -- Debbie Lusignan, Sane Progressive,
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(M1677) 2016-08-25 2016 08 25 Election Team Conference Call -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1676) 2016-08-23 Election Audit Lawsuit Update Press Release, Aug 23, 2016 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1679) 2016-08-23 Election lawsuit on track for October trial -- Plaintiffs want registrar to count provisional ballots in quality control audit -- Joshua Stewart, Union Tribune,
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(M1675) 2016-08-21 Election Lawsuit Overview and Status on Aug 21, 2016 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1671) 2016-08-10 Evidence supporting Election Fraud in San Diego -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1670) 2016-08-03 Press Conference: Court Ruling on Anti-Election Fraud Lawsuit -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, Also includes court ruling and explanation.
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(M1700) 2016-08-02 20160721 Snapshot Protocol Tutorial -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1699) 2016-07-21 Snapshot Protocol Tutorial -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1698) 2016-07-13 20160713 COPs Confronts Elections Officials -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1697) 2016-07-11 Contesting the Election Press Conference 2016-07-11 -- Ray Lutz, Bill Simpich, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1668) 2016-07-06 July 6 Election Lawsuit Press Conference -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1665) 2016-06-28 Primary Election Lawsuit -- , Kusi News,
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(M1666) 2016-06-28 Citizens' Oversight vs. Padilla -- Bill Simpich, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1667) 2016-06-28 Election Lawsuits Press Conference -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1663) 2016-06-27 Press Release: June 28, 2016 Press Conf: COUNT EVERY VOTE -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
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(M1661) 2016-06-26 Registrar of Voters Lawsuit Tutorial -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, -- Includes explanatory graphic image.
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(M1658) 2016-06-16 Lutz vs. Vu -- Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief -- Ray Lutz, Alan Geraci, Citizens Oversight, 37-2016-00020273-CL-MC-CTL All legal documents related to the case.
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(M1662) 2016-06-08 San Diego County Manual Tally selection meeting, June 8, 2016 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, Save time and skip through most of the drawing part!
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(M975) 2009-10-22 California Investigating Problems With Voting-Machine Audit Logs -- Kim Zetter, Wired Magazine,
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(M1503) 2008-07-01 Improving the Security, Transparency and Efficiency of California's 1% Manual Tally Procedures -- Joseph Lorenzo Hall, UC Berkeley School of Information, Manual Tally Procedures
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(M830) 2008-02-08 One Percent Manual Tally Procedure -- Registrar Of Voters, Registrar Of Voters, San Diego County Canvass Procedure
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(M1683) 2008 Procedures for California's 1% Manual Tally -- Joseph Hall, UCBerkeley,
Discussion List
See
List Serve for all email discussion lists and to add more.
- Ray Lutz talking to Media at initial press conference, 2016-06-17: