2024 Ballot Error Confirmed by California Secretary of State’s Office

People count California ballot votes at a Los Angeles Registrar site at the Los Angeles Fair Grounds in Pomona, Calif., on Aug. 31, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The California secretary of state’s office has acknowledged a mistake that led to a U.S. Senate candidate receiving “no ballot designation” for the March 5 primary ballot and voter guide, according to a statement last week.

The candidate, Democrat Christina Pascucci, is vying for the U.S. Senate seat that was left open after longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) death last year.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, released a statement saying that Ms. Pascucci should have received the designation of “local television journalist” and blamed the issue on an “administrative error.” The mistake has been corrected online but the ballots or voter guides cannot be fixed, the statement said.

“This oversight was the result of an internal miscommunication. We have worked with the candidate to mitigate the incorrect ballot designation, and reviewed our internal processes to better ensure this does not happen again,” Ms. Weber’s office said in a statement to The Sacramento Bee.

An attorney for Ms. Pascucci told the outlet that after the erroneous “no ballot designation” label was applied, her polling numbers halved.

“Early voting starts in one week, [voters] sit down with a ballot and the two things they see are her name, Christina’s name, and those three words, the ballot designation,” Steve Churchwell, the attorney, told the outlet.

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Ms. Pascucci, 38, told the outlet that the situation has been “hugely distressing” for her, noting she learned of the error in late December 2023. “We had the confirmation [from the secretary of state’s office], we were good to go. The next thing I know, I see the posted list, it says ‘No Ballot Designation,’” she said.

Elaborating, she said printing and sending out new ballots with the correct information would cost millions of dollars. As an alternative to reprinting, her attorney requested that Ms. Weber’s office use voter emails to contact voters and notify them about the ballot correction. However, that request was denied.

Adam Schiff Holds Lead

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a noted foe of former President Donald Trump who helped lead the first impeachment against him, has a clear lead in the Senate race, according to a December 2023 poll from Politico. Republican Steve Garvey and Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee are currently vying for the second-place spot, the poll found.

The survey found that Mr. Schiff received 28 percent; Mr. Garvey, 19 percent; Ms. Porter, 17 percent; and Ms. Lee, 14 percent. Notably, Ms. Pascucci was further behind, with 4 percent.

A poll released by the Los Angeles Times in mid-January shows that Mr. Schiff has a 4 percent lead over Ms. Porter, while Mr. Garvey received 13 percent.

The top two candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the general election, scheduled for Nov. 5. The state’s primary on March 5 will determine the two final candidates.

Trump Activity

In December 2023, Ms. Weber included President Trump on the state’s primary election ballot, denying a push by several top officials to have him removed. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis had asked Ms. Weber in a letter to “explore every legal option” to remove the former president from the ballot.

But the secretary of state ultimately declined to remove the former president and published the list of candidates for president who will appear on the Golden State’s primary ballot. “There are complex legal issues surrounding this matter,” she wrote, noting that her office doesn’t take the decision lightly.

At the same time, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected the prospect of removing President Trump, saying that anything other than defeating a candidate at the polls is a “political distraction.”

Ms. Kounalakis, also a Democrat, who reportedly is running for governor, cited a Colorado Supreme Court decision that barred President Trump from that state’s ballots under a reading of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

The Epoch Times contacted the California secretary of state’s office for comment but didn’t receive a reply by press time.