Did a Clovis council member offer prizes to voters for ballots? Questions linger
A Clovis City Council member’s social media post about an event this weekend may violate state elections code — and the Fresno County clerk has advised him against it.
A re-election event for Vong Mouanoutoua offers raffle prizes for anyone who shows their ballot on Saturday, according to a Facebook post he shared.
The Facebook post said, “BRING YOUR BALLOTS to the rally for a chance to win prizes!”
Mouanoutoua issued a statement to The Bee Thursday afternoon, but did not directly address the Facebook post.
“Saturday’s event is an old-fashioned, get-out-the-vote-rally with music, dancers, drawings, and community leader speakers,” he said in his statement.
“My goal is to bring awareness of the hard work that me and my council colleagues have done to re-open businesses, support the police, and work with our school district so they can safely re-open.”
Fresno County Clerk Brandi Orth said she does not provide legal advice to candidates but did point the councilmember and his team to state election code.
“We don’t police these kinds of things,” she said. “To me, (offering prizes) is not a good practice.”
California elections code 18522 says a candidate or their committee shall not “pay, lend, or contribute ... any money or other valuable consideration to or for any voter.”
The code says a person in violation could be subject to imprisonment from 16 months to three years.
Orth said the prizes in a raffle could be considered the “valuable consideration” in the legal code clause.
She said she advised the Mouanoutoua’s team to take down the post that displaying the flyer.
The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office would have to consider the matter if it received a complaint, she noted.
The Fair Political Practices Commission does not regulate this kind of potential violation, according to Jay Wierenga, a spokesman for the FPPC.
The Secretary of State’s Office, when asked about the issue, said local elections fall under the jurisdiction of the county.
Mouanoutoua and fellow incumbent Lynne Ashbeck face challengers Noha Elbaz, Diane Pearce and Herman Nagra. Election Day is Tuesday.
Elbaz said she was concerned with any actions that could call into question the elections process. She said she’s had only good interactions with the incumbent.
“My biggest issue is right now where we are in our country, there is so much mistrust across our country and our community,” she said. “The appearance of impropriety. It’s important we do things the right way.”
Pearce was critical of the Facebook post.
“I’ve been knocking on doors since September; talking with voters and earning their support,” she said in a text messaged statement. “I didn’t realize we could have a carnival and buy votes with prizes.”
Ashbeck and Nagra were not immediately available for comment.
This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 4:10 PM.
