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Poll suit against BOE dismissed
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Posted on Jan 06 2000
Superior Court Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama yesterday dismissed the lawsuit against the Board of Elections over the result of the race for the Board of Education representative on Rota on several grounds, chief of which is failure to include the winning candidate as defendant in the case.
Juanita M. Taisacan, write-in candidate in the elections in the first district, also failed to follow requirements of the law when she contested the results of the Nov. 6 polls, according to the decision.
No documents, such as statement of verification, affidavit and declaration, were provided to the court when Ms. Taisacan filed an amended complaint last month to support her initial claim that the BOE committed mistakes in tallying the votes to give her opponent, Marja Lee Taitano, a slim margin of 12 votes.
Judge Lizama noted that while her complaint named the poll body as a defendant, it did not include Ms. Taitano as real party in interest who should have been the proper defendant in this case.
Thus, he said, the suit failed to satisfy provisions of the law that a winning candidate has the right to be informed of any election contest.
“[T]here is no defendant that the BOE can serve with a copy of the complaint. The winning candidate has not been made a party to the suit and therefore cannot be informed of the contest or respond,” Judge Lizama said in his ruling.
Ms. Taisacan also cannot further amend her complaint to include Ms. Taitano at this time as the 30-day period to lodge an election contest has already elapsed. BOE released officials results on Nov. 12.
“[T]o amend plaintiff’s complaint to add a new party would extend the period to file an election contest beyond that prescribed by the election contest statutes. This court will not allow this action,” said Judge Lizama. “The statutes are unequivocal and should be adhered to accordingly.”
Ms. Taisacan, through her lawyer Joey Arriola, had petitioned the court to order the election’s board to conduct a recount and tally all votes cast, claiming that it erred in the tabulation which drastically changed the outcome of the polls. (BS)
