The more things change, the more they stay the same
The Recall final numbers surprised us all, 8022 signatures were collected. The leadership was told that the certifications will be done by December 16th; however, the Election Department certified 4990 of them in record time by Friday the 10th. The recall leadership is baffled and I understand why. This is the office that by Kopelman and Paige’s report identified numerous mistakes, bad management and disorganization. This consultant found that the election department of Lawrence mishandled the process of the 2014 elections.
The firm criticized the City of Lawrence’s lack of organization and adequate education of election workers. They made recommendation that Rivera fired Rafael Tejeda. The Kopelman and Paige report listed numerous election violations and procedures not being followed. This company portrayed the Election Department as a department in shambles and in total chaos.
This report documented the lack of adequate custody for ballots; lack of ballot box security; material being stored inside overstuffed boxes; they claimed that the Election Department allowed the public access to the vault where ballots were being held on Election Day; absentee ballots were sent to the wrong polling places; absentee ballots not counted on election night; and improper handling of absentee ballots, provisional ballots and numerous of other challenges. That was year 2014.
Now is 2015, not much has changed in this department and I can understand the recall leadership preoccupation with the process being fair and just. It is no surprise to me that they couldn’t find over three thousand voters; they have been accused of improper and mishandling of ballots before. They didn’t count ballots on election night why would we, the public, believe that they checked over 8000 signatures in less than a week. If in fact they “looked” at each signature this was done in less than 30 second per signature. IMPOSSIBLE!
We, the taxpayers of Lawrence, deserve better service, regardless whether you are con or pro the recall. The most egregious moment for me was when I read in the Facebook page of Riveras’s staff hinting that they have won over the recall effort. Or how the numbers were out in the community when this process was supposed to be a very confidential process.
How can we believe in this department with the kind of leaks that were released to the community? Where is the integrity in the process? For god’s sake I knew the numbers before the numbers were made public. Although the mayor fired Tejeda, hired two of his friends, and claimed to have re structured the department, nothing has really changed. This department is still a mess and Friday confirmed it.
The real fun begins now that the Board of Registrars met on Monday, December 14 to certify the 4,990 signatures that were verified by the Election Department. By Wednesday at five o’clock, both groups have the option to file their objections. Mayor Rivera already said that he wants an investigation on forgery and fraud even though, at this point, he’s winning.
