SACRAMENTO —
Shortly before Thanksgiving, Riverside County’s registrar of voters received a post-election surprise: The local district attorney had custody of 91 ballots for weeks, and their review wouldn’t wrap up before certification of the Nov. 3 results.
“It was very concerning,” said Registrar of Voters Rebecca Spencer. “That was the first I had heard about all of this.”
The ballots are still being held by Dist. Atty. Michael Hestrin more than three months later, the impasse only the latest in a series of bitter feuds between the two Riverside agencies over the past four years. Spencer, whose work in responding to Hestrin’s inquiries has largely been supported by the Riverside County counsel’s office, recently hired her own lawyer due to what she said were her concerns with Hestrin and other high-ranking Republicans.