OROSI – The Orosi Public Utilities District (OPUD) has been in turmoil for months following the November election in which three incumbents were voted out but refused to step down.
The three incumbent board members contend that district mapping irregularities led to about 200 voters not receiving district races on their ballots. The board members believe that a special election should be held to correct the mapping error. Reynaldo Rivas, Maria C. Gonzalez and Johnny Sandoval are the three members refusing to step down.
Advocates for the newly-elected board members claim that while every vote matters, the outcome of the elections would not change had the proper ballot campaigns been included. The errors were spread out among the three districts and two of the three candidates were elected in landslide elections.
“This has been a long journey, we have been working on this for a long time, and we are finally at the end of it,” Angie Moreno, a local activist, said in a telephone interview with The Sun-Gazette. “We said this was wrong from the beginning. We are all looking forward to moving forward.”
On Jan. 14, Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber issued a letter calling on the board members to honor the certified vote and vacate their seats.
“Few things are as un-American as refusing to accept the results of an election,” Bonta wrote. “Whatever their grievances may be, they failed to challenge the election results. Now, they must respect the will of the voters. If they do not, the California Department of Justice and the Secretary of State’s Office stand ready to take legal action.”
The board was scheduled to hold a meeting on Jan. 14, which was ultimately canceled. The three members who had been voted out intended on holding the meeting which would have been the second meeting since the election. The unelected members held a closed session meeting during the previous meeting in violation of election rules.
“As California’s chief elections officer, I am responsible for ensuring that state elections laws are enforced. Attorney General Bonta and I stand firm that voters must be able to trust that elections and election results matter,” Weber wrote. “An incumbent who is not reelected does not have any authority to unilaterally decide to stay in office. Any person who hinders democracy by preventing a lawfully elected person from taking office will be held accountable.”
The OPUD board is required to report to Bonta in writing by Jan. 17 that Rivas, Gonzalez and Sandoval would step down.
