Demos President Miles Rapoport Criticizes Lawsuits Aimed at Stopping Vote Counting in San Diego Mayoral Race

New York, N.Y. — Today Miles Rapoport, President of Demos and former Connecticut Secretary of State, released a statement saying that tens of thousands of voters would be disenfranchised if lawsuits challenging the legitimacy of the San Diego mayoral election succeed.

"The lawsuits are a partisan and self-serving effort to undermine the democratic process. To stop the vote counting now would betray the voters, leave the door wide open to accusations of unfair and underhanded behavior and undermine trust in the electoral process. These suits should be withdrawn or thrown out of court. The highest goal here must be to count every vote," said Rapoport.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuits, which were filed this week, wish to see Democratic write-in candidate Donna Frye disqualified and the vote counting stopped. Frye is ahead of two Republican opponents by a slim margin.

The plaintiffs contend that allowing Frye to enter the run-off election as a write-in candidate violated the city's charter. The city's municipal code was altered in 1985 to allow write-in candidates and the charter was never revised. Prior to Election Day, the legality of Frye's candidacy went unchallenged.

"If these lawsuits are allowed to proceed, this would be a serious blow to democracy," said Rapoport.

For information about voters' rights and challenges to the integrity of our elections in 2004, visit the Demos homepage at www.demos-usa.org

Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, is a nonprofit, non-partisan public policy organization based in New York.

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