By Brian Hews
Several Montebello residents have called the Montebello News complaining about polling place irregularities and alleging possible voter fraud during the city council election this past Tuesday.
Also, a candidate for a position in Montebello said that a poll worker told the candidate, “you need your voter pamphlet to vote, you cannot vote without it. If you do not have it, you have to vote a different way and it will take a long time to count.”
The candidate went home, got the pamphlet, and voted.
In California, it is illegal to ask for anything from a voter.
Mayor Jack Hadjinian and newcomer Vanessa Delgado won their respective races with surprising ease, shocking many long-time political observers in the area.
Further, many Montebello residents on social media were questioning the number of votes that Hadjinian and Delgado received versus all other candidates.
The first sign of irregularities occurred at the Montebello Library where Vanessa Delgado was seen inside the polling place asking people to vote for her.
State election laws dictate a candidate must not come within 100 feet of polling place, and poll workers are required to remove any offending candidate.
Two residents took pictures of her inside the library.
Delgado on the Montebello Library floor during election day.
According to the two residents that took the pictures, the polling place manager, whose name is Mr. Ibarra, refused to remove Delgado after they told him that she was in violation of election laws.
The residents finally called the Montebello police who escorted Delgado off the premises.
That apparently did not deter Delgado, as another resident called the Montebello News to say that Delgado went to the south Montebello polling place and violated the 100-foot roll once again.
That same resident said she is “gathering a database” of voters who complained that three different polling place managers at three different polling places were not allowing residents to vote unless they had their “voter information pamphlet” with them.
It is illegal for any poll worker to ask for a voter’s identification much less ask for a voter pamphlet.
If you saw or have evidence of voter fraud, call the Montebello News at 562.407.3873 or click here to send an email.
I wonder what the outcome of the investigation was?