“The Lack of Evidence was Profound”: Judge Dismisses Case Alleging Mal-Conduct in Shasta County’s March 5 Primary Election
Judge Stephen Baker said Assistant County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut performed her role competently and professionally.
During the third day of hearings for Laura Hobbs case against the Shasta County Elections Office, Judge Stephen Baker issued a ruling formally dismissing the case.
“The lack of evidence was profound,” Baker said, while issuing the judgement.
Hobbs sued the Elections Office, and her winning opponent Allen Long, shortly after she lost the March 5 primary. She has alleged, among other things, that her name being placed in the incorrect order on the ballot affected the election outcome.
Attorney Christopher Pisano, who represented the county, acknowledged early on in the case that the Elections Office had made a mistake in how names on the ballot were ordered. But, Pisano argued, the simple clerical error was neither evidence of mal-conduct by elections staff, nor a reason to invalidate the election outcome.
Today, June 25, Judge Baker agreed, saying that Hobbs’ attorney, Alex Haberbush, had failed to offer any expert witness testimony to attempt to prove that the mistake made by the Elections Office changed the outcome of the election. He asked Haberbush how he could possibly expect to prove his case without such testimony.
Haberbush, who works for a Long Beach legal firm specializing in bankruptcy and runs the non-profit Lex Rex Institute, told the Judge he didn’t need to offer any expert witness testimony because case precedent indicates “as a matter of law” that mistakes in ordering of names on election ballots necessarily affect the outcome.
Judge Baker said he “could not disagree more” with Haberbush’s assessment.
“There is no case that has found, as a matter of law, that mere placement creates an advantage,” Baker said.
Judge Baker also emphasized that while some prior cases have used expert witnesses to prove that alphabetization errors created an advantage for some candidates, no prior court has ever reversed an election on the basis of that kind of mistake even when such advantage was documented.
In a scathing statement that accompanied his ruling, Judge Baker issued a definitive rebuke against Hobbs and her attorney, saying that evidence presented in the case was “ill-defined, vague, full of irregularities and lacking in foundation.”
In fact, the only qualified elections expert interviewed during the case at all, Judge Baker said, was the acting County Clerk and Registrar of Voters herself, Joanna Francescut, who faced hours of questions that he referred to as “argumentative”, “misleading” and “undignified.”
Nevertheless, Judge Baker continued, the evidence showed that Francescut competently and professionally performed her duties as the county’s acting top elections official. “Some mistakes were made,” Baker said, but they were “normal and unintentional.”
To argue otherwise, Baker stated, “is pure speculation.”
Francescut has worked for the Elections Office for sixteen years. She took charge of day-to-day operations last November when her boss, the last elected County Clerk and Registrar of Voters, stepped down due to health concerns.
Francescut was running the Office during the March primary election when the alphabetization error was made. She testified that her staff applied the wrong random alphabetized name list in local races, including Hobbs District 2 supervisor race. Francescut said it was ultimately her responsibility to have caught the error during ballot proofing. She also testified that a confluence of factors including a change in voting machine systems, a change in ballot creation process, a series of new laws that affected ballot wording, and the absence of the Elections Office supervisor, Darling Allen, were contributing circumstances.
A majority of county supervisors issued a statement a few weeks ago saying that they believed the misordering of names on the ballot might have affected the election outcome.
Last week, they chose a new candidate to be appointed as County Clerk and Registrar of Voters, overlooking Francescut in favor of a semi-retired prosecutor who has no elections experience. The Hobbs case did not come up during interviews.
In a statement to Shasta Scout after today’s ruling, Francescut said she was very pleased with the judge’s ruling and the comments he made.
“I’m proud of my staff for the work they do every single day to serve our community and ensure our elections are accurate, transparent and fair,” Francescut said.
Haberbush said he plans to appeal the case, noting that he disagrees with the judge that expert witness testimony was needed to prove that mis-ordering of names affected the election. Hobbs did not respond to a request for comment.
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Assume for the moment that the election was flawed. Any errors could have harmed all candidates, not just Hobbs. To be fair, once the errors were proven to be real and substantial, there should have been a new election with all the original candidates. Instead Hobbs demanded a new contest with only two candidates, Long and herself. The exclusion of all other candidates is a dishonest slight of hand. Calling it a runoff disguises the fact that all other candidates were being rejected from a second election that should have included them. All of this is moot being that Hobbs was unable to prove substantial errors in the election.
During the hearing, Judge Baker indicated that Hobbs’ case was a reach. But he gave her plenty of opportunity to succeed. He was respectful and calm. Today when he delivered his verdict, he maintained his composure. However, his choice of words indicated his strong feeling against this action. One phrase after another politely telling Hobbs and her team that they had wasted court time and public money on an amateurish attempt to overturn a fair and honest election. Judge Baked vindicated ROV Francescut, just like the Attorney General vindicated District Attorney Bridgett.
“Hobbs and her team that they had wasted court time and public money on an amateurish attempt to overturn a fair and honest election.”
Hobbs was not “suing to overturn the results of an election” the election. Hobbs was suing to force a runoff. Big Difference!
” Judge Baked vindicated ROV Francescut” for making an admitted mistake?
@Nick:
Read the article, SLOWLY. Then you might get that yes, the judge vindicated Joanna.
Also try really, really hard to understand this: Forcing a runoff would overturn the election results.
Go ahead and give it some time. I know there’s some things that you just don’t get right away Nick, but the important thing is you’re trying.
It’s so sad the county is going downhill fast. Hopefully one day soon the Shasta County voters will learn. But I unfortunately don’t have faith the far right will ever give in. They would rather see everything burn then admit they were wrong. Conservatives as a whole don’t understand complex issues. It’s the party where intelligence and logic goes to die.
Right out of the Trump/MAGA playbook…no more ridiculous fraud cases will be relevant. This will be case law and used throughout the nation. The cost of this action will be paid by you and me, in the 10s of thousands, the tax payers of Shasta County ! Prediction: Hobbs will all of a sudden move back where she was summoned from. Thank you judge Baker for simply upholding the law.
I wonder if this is the last we will hear on this case? If there is not an issue with the ordering of names on the ballot then why are they not just arranged alphabetically? I recall that was the concern when they ceased listing them alphabetically. Therefore, I don’t see a problem with questioning I don’t believe the ROV did anything intentionally wrong. However, mistakes were made in the election and why is it not acceptable to question the errors?
There is a huge difference between asking questions and suing to overturn the results of an election. The election wasn’t even close; Long still managed to get 50% even with three other candidates. There is no evidence the placement of names had an impact. Asking questions is fine but suing the county without evidence and costing the taxpayers is not. It’s a waste.
Hobbs was not “suing to overturn the results of an election” the election. Hobbs was suing to force a runoff. Big Difference!
Nick: Forcing a runoff would have overturned the results of the primary.
@Babs: It WAS questioned. It was questioned quite a bit actually.
In court.
And then it was tossed out.
I find it incredible that Hobbs is basically saying that her supporters are so stupid that they were confused as to which bubble to make to cast their vote for her. Long and Hobbs do have one letter in common, but other than that, it is very hard to be confused between the two names. Hobbs insists that she would have gotten more votes, and Long would have gotten fewer, if the correct order had been present.
Maybe it has more to do with her “666 on Supervisor Rickert’s DMV issued license plate” ploy just before the election. People had had enough with her conspiracy theories.
This is just embarrassing for the supporters of this joke of a case.
VERY embarrassing.
Of course Hobbs did not comment.
Thank you Judge Baker. It is very reassuring to know that we have sane, competent people in our legal system.
Larry Whitehead
I find it unprofessional that the Board of Supervisors chose a candidate with no elections experience over Ms. Francescut. It reflects how I perceive that group and have for a very long time: their priority is less about what is best for Shasta County and more about placing other narrow-minded and immature but controllable people in place. These are the same people who wave flags but do not actually represent all of their constituents, just the ones that support them. Living in Shasta County after growing up in a big city is like ending up in a classroom with all the rude and less academically accomplished kids. I can confidently say that no local election results have reflected who I chose on my ballot, yet I have no reason to question the integrity of the elections officers. A person has worked 16 years in an office – and she is by-passed for someone with no experience. No doubt that will bite us in the rear end while no doubt the experienced and knowledgable candidate will have moved on to somewhere her experience is appreciated. Frankly, it is embarrassing being a Shasta County resident so I don’t offer that fact unless I am asked.
Are you shocked? The Three stooges and their court joker (Hobbs) prove again that their rein is coming to an end. Fire the clerk as soon as Long is installed because he’ll never get elected ( unless the group of thieves .? The militia) Throw the last of their Revenge money his way.. but hopefully the migrants from the Bay Area realize we are the laughing stock of the country. By they Kevin where’s the money that the pillow boy promised you.. another lie!
County needs to collect attorney fees that county took to defend the results of election or contempt ruling on Hobbs for bringing a frivolous suit. Why should we as tax payers continue to pay for ignorance?
Please feel free to move back to “the big city” you you left and help clean up that nest you helped soil before you lecture us on how to run our nest.
Thank you Judge Baker for dismissing this ridiculous case. I appreciate your good counsel