Trial to determine election recount requester's debt awaits judge's decision 

Darcia Stebbens fought against time on the final day of her trial de novo case over money owed to the San Luis Obispo County-Clerk Recorder's Office.

On. Dec 19, the two-time election recount requester entered the third day of her argument against paying the full cost of manually retallying votes cast in the 2022 2nd District Supervisor race between Bruce Gibson and Bruce Jones.

click to enlarge

• Photo By Jayson Mellom
• UNSATISIFED CITIZEN During her trial over unpaid recount costs, election recount requester Darcia Stebbens said she represented SLO County citizens and taxpayers who feel unsure about the election process and its results.

After cross-examining County-Clerk Recorder Elaina Cano for the entirety of the session on Dec. 7, Stebbens launched into similar lines of questioning on Dec. 19 and objected to hourly benefits for staff members working on the election recount being included in the actual cost of the proceedings.

Stebbens owes the County-Clerk Recorder's Office a remainder of $4,448.21, which a small claims court ruled she must pay. The San Miguel resident appealed that decision on a slew of reasons and specified at the Dec. 19 trial that "exhibit 2-1 is my whole case." That exhibit is a set of emails exchanged between her and the County-Clerk Recorder's Office in April about the balance.

"While in recount meetings, you and others continued to make a statement that my requested materials were not relevant," Stebbens wrote to Cano in an email dated April 17. "Each time, I cited the Americans for Safe Access v. County of Alameda."

The Alameda County case is a 2006 appeal from the Americans for Safe Access group after it requested a recount on the votes cast on a Berkeley ballot measure for the November 2004 election. The measure didn't pass. Some of those ballots were cast with electronic voting machines, and the Americans for Safe Access asked to examine ballots and "any other relevant materials" for recount purposes. The registrar denied their request for materials, claiming irrelevance. A recount in 2005 didn't change the outcome of the election. The trial stemming from the appeal concluded that requested materials were relevant.

Stebbens submitted the case as a precedent to bolster her argument. She said she wanted to access system logs.

"This is the information that comes directly from the Dominion machines and tabulators, and we should be able to view that," she said.

Cano shot back saying Stebbens did receive all relevant material pertaining to the recount and that she didn't grant her access to system logs because Stebbens wouldn't specify exactly what she was looking for. The county-clerk recorder added that the Alameda County case wasn't applicable.

"This is completely different and has nothing to do with how we tabulate our ballots," Cano said. "Alameda County uses electronic voting; we do not have that here. The two systems are completely different."

After Stebbens used the bulk of her time for cross-examination, Judge Rita Federman informed her that she had five minutes to question her witness and 10 minutes to present final argument.

Her only witness was Dale Gustin—the former Paso Robles attorney disbarred from the State Bar of California in 2017 for "an act of moral turpitude" like threatening his opposing counsel's clients with criminal charges of forgery and perjury to receive a settlement of $450,000, according to State Bar Court documents.

Gustin attended every session of Stebbens' trial and assumed the witness stand on Dec. 19 after Federman shot down his attempt to "self-qualify as an expert witness."

The judge also blocked further questioning after Stebbens asked Gustin about his familiarity with the election recount repayment case and collection agencies.

"Are you trying to qualify Mr. Gustin as an expert witness?" Federman asked.

Federman rejected Stebbens' attempt to do so, and Gustin returned to the gallery.

"We have not been able to assure ourselves that the election process was followed ... and that the results were correct," Stebbens said in her final argument. "I believe we have been overcharged for the county employees who are already being paid."

Ann Duggan, who represents the County-Clerk Recorder's Office, claimed precedent through Rubio v. Superior Court where benefits paid to employees are considered part of actual cost. She added that the trial was to determine whether Stebbens to repay her debt not if relevant materials should have been provided to her.

"We have incurred more in expense being here, but there's a principle here," Duggan said. "A requester of a recount should repay. Public policy is involved, and the process could invite frivolous recounts."

While the trial concluded on Dec. 19, Federman announced she needs more time to review all the facts because the trial took three days to conclude. She'll issue her written ruling within 30 days. Δ