Is Ed Lee in Hot Water?
You could almost call the San Francisco mayoral race “boring” so far this late into the campaign season. For the most part, candidates have stayed out of each other’s way. But that changed this past weekend.
Following a report in the San Francisco Chronicle that some of Mayor Ed Lee’s supporters may have filled out absentee ballots for voters, seven other mayoral candidates are now calling for state and federal monitors to oversee voting in the November 8 election.
In the Chronicle’s report, two witnesses said they “observed workers at a makeshift voting station on a Chinatown sidewalk filling in absentee ballots for voters.” There were also other allegations about the group using stencils to ensure that voters mark their ballot for a specific candidate.
The station was set up by the SF Neighbor Alliance, an independent expenditure committee supporting Lee.
In a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and California Secretary of State, the candidates, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, state Senator Leland Yee, Supervisor John Avalos, former Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier and venture capitalist Joanna Rees all called for monitors to be implemented and advised for further investigations into the allegations.
Speaking to CBS5 TV on Sunday, Lee staunchly defended himself, claiming the work at the Chinatown station was “moronic” and said that the group “has nothing to do with his campaign.”
It appears things are heating up as we head to the finish line. Stay tuned.
Photo Credit: Mayor Ed Lee, via Flickr
