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April 4, 2024

Via Electronic Mail and U.S. Mail
Email: mitran@rivco.org; grtrindle@rivco.org; StNelson@rivco.org;
agettis@rivco.org; district1@rivco.org; district2@rivco.org;
district3@rivco.org; district4@rivco.org; district5@rivco.org;
cob@rivco.org; atinoco@rivco.org
Art Tinoco, County of Riverside Registrar of Voters
Riverside County Board of Supervisors
2720 Gateway Drive
Riverside, CA 92507
Re: Improper Certification of the 2024 Primary Election
Dear Riverside County Registrar of Voters and Board of Supervisors:
I am writing on behalf of Government Watchdogs, a nonprofit organization that exists to
ensure government integrity. Today, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters (“ROV”) is set to
certify the results of the March 5, 2024, Primary Election. The ROV is excluding from the count
approximately 5,000 timely postmarked vote by mail ballots (“uncounted ballots”). California law
requires that every vote be counted if the voter complies with state law. Accordingly, the County
of Riverside ROV must extend election certification until all 5,000 ballots are properly counted.
On March 5, 2024, the statewide primary election took place. On that day, approximately
5,000 vote by mail ballots arrived at the USPS Redlands Distribution Center and were properly
postmarked. On Wednesday, March 27, 2024, it came to the attention of several concerned
Riverside County citizens and voters that the ROV is storing and refusing to count these ballots,
despite these ballots being received and postmarked in time to be counted in the election. The ROV
refuses to count the postmarked ballots because they allegedly arrived at the Registrar’s Office
after the legal deadline of March 12, 2024.
Upon receipt of the ballots at the USPS Redlands Distribution Center, USPS sent the ballots
by priority mail to the ROV’s post office box at the Chicago Post Office. Upon information and
belief, USPS does not deliver vote by mail ballots to the Registrar’s office. Rather, it is routine
practice for the ROV’s office to send two or more employees daily to pick up ballots from the
Chicago Post Office box. As of March 12, 2024, the Chicago Post Office no longer held custody
of the 5,000 uncounted ballots. Notably, we are informed that chain of custody documentation may
not exist to prove that the March 5 ballots did not arrive at the ROV’s office by the legal deadline.
The California Constitution is clear that “a voter who casts a vote in an election in
accordance with the laws of this state shall have that vote counted.” Cal. Const., art. II, § 2.5. The

Art Tinoco and Riverside County Board of Supervisors
April 4, 2024
Page 2
Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution similarly protects the
fundamental right of each voter to have their vote properly counted. See Reynolds v. Sims, 377
U.S. 533, 555 (1964); Bridgeman v. McPherson, 141 Cal.App.4th 277, 284 (2006) (“The right to
vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any
restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government. The right is fundamental
because [it is] preservative of all rights. Rather than being a creature of the California Constitution,
the right of suffrage in this as in every other state of the Union flows from the well-springs of our
national political heritage.”) (cleaned up) (internal citations omitted).
Additionally, California’s election laws and regulations are strict regarding chain of
custody requirements. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, § 20137 requires election officials to develop and
document chain of custody procedures for all vote by mail ballots. Pursuant to these regulations,
elections officials must document the time the ballots departed from the post office and time they
arrived at the ROV’s election office. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, § 20137(a)(7-8). The regulations also
require a completed retrieval form for each ballot container. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, § 20137(a)(9- 11). The Riverside County ROV appears to be in violation of these regulations because we have
been informed that chain of custody documentation may not exist for the uncounted ballots.
The Riverside County ROV’s office is not unfamiliar with what is required of them in
situations such as this. Indeed, in 2010 the Riverside County ROV found herself in a nearly
identical situation. Following a primary election, the presiding ROV failed to count approximately
12,500 votes by mail ballots after the ballots were left at a post office and subsequently declared
ineligible due to untimely delivery. See Riverside County Democratic Central Committee v.
Barbara Dunmore, No. RIC10012986 (Riverside County Superior Court June 30, 2010). Due to
no fault of the voters, the vote by mail ballots were not delivered prior to the legal deadline.
Nevertheless, a Riverside County Superior Court judge delayed certification of the election results
and ordered the ROV to count the ballots prior to certification. Id.
It would be a grave injustice for the ROV to disenfranchise the votes of over 5,000
Riverside County voters based on the ROV’s miscommunication with U.S. postal service workers
and apparent failure to maintain proper chain of custody documentation. Accordingly, on behalf
of various concerned Riverside County voters and citizens, Government Watchdogs demand that
the County of Riverside ROV extend certification of the March 5 election results until the 5,000
uncounted ballots are properly considered. If these ballots are not properly counted, we will be
forced to initiate legal action to protect the fundamental voting rights of Riverside County citizens.