Hold on! The 2011 Burbank General Election is not quite a done deal just yet. Today a statewide election watchdog organization, Protect California Ballots , joined with Burbank resident, George Marciniw, in sending a letter to Burbank City Clerk, Margarita Campos, requesting a recount in that oh-so close city council run-off between City Planning Board Member, Emily Gabel-Luddy, and Police Commissioner, Bob Frutos. You’re reading about it first on this blog.
Last Friday, Campos announced the final results showing Gabel-Luddy edged out Frutos by 95 votes. Protect California Ballots founder, Judy Alter, says the only way to really make sure the election machines scanned the ballots accurately is to double-check with a manual count using human, “…eyeballs and hands.” Alter, a retired UCLA professor, says “… most voter fraud occurs in mail-in ballot (elections)… ”
The city of Burbank is charging a steep $4,500 for the ballot recount. Alter believes that “is wrong,” and says under the California State Election Code the fee should be $400-800. No matter, Alter and her election integrity group plan to collect donations to pay the high fee in order to go ahead with the Burbank City Council race recount.
For more on Protect California Ballots and/or to make a donation for this recount, which is tax deductible, click over to the group’s website here.