Voter fraud charges mount

2 Democrats say they were registered as Republicans
By Lauren McSherry, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/25/2008 09:12:21 PM PDT

Rebecca Franco says she has always been a loyal Democrat, so she was surprised recently when she received a voter registration card in the mail telling her she had been registered as a Republican.

Franco, who lives in Ontario, believes she was part of a voter fraud scheme that used a petition drive as a ploy to increase the number of registered Republican voters in San Bernardino County.

``It was a total scam,'' Franco said.

The county Democratic Party claims the group Young Political Majors collected signatures under the guise of a petition drive to keep child molesters in prison at Wal-Marts in Chino, Chino Hills, Fontana, Rialto and San Bernardino.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office confirmed Wednesday that an investigation is under way.

The owner and operator of the group, Mark Jacoby, denies any wrongdoing.

Like Franco, Christina Chavez, also of Ontario, says she was deceived.

``I feel that I should have known better than to have believed them,'' Chavez said. ``They told me this wasn't going to change anything. They totally played me.''

Chavez said there was nothing to identify the signature collectors as working for the Republican Party.

``They were kind of rushing us,'' Chavez said. ``We were in a hurry too because we were shopping.''

She said she tried to fill in a circle on one of the forms indicating she was a Democrat, but was told she had to fill the form in as a Republican. She said she was assured that signing the documents would not affect how she could vote.

After signing the documents, she said she received no receipt or phone call confirming the change in her party affiliation, a fairly common procedure in registration drives.

Franco said she was falsely registered at a Wal-Mart in Rancho Cucamonga. Chavez said her false registration occurred at a Wal-Mart in Chino Hills.

The Democrats had been gaining ground in registering new voters in San Bernardino County. But in recent weeks, there has been a dramatic spurt in Republican voter registration numbers.

Daren Esqueda, a student at Fresno City College, said that in September, he worked collecting voter registration signatures for one day at a Wal-Mart in Fresno.

He said he did not return for a second day of work, despite being promised $200, because he felt the process for gathering signatures was unethical. People believed they were signing a petition for harsher penalties against child molesters, not changing their party affiliation, he said.

``There's no petition, so they're basically lying about that,'' Esqueda said.

Esqueda said he was given a script to read that said, ``It is requested that we ask, and it does not affect the way you vote during the election. Do you mind if we check you down as Republican? Just to get funding for the kids. Like I said, it does not affect the way you vote.''

lauren.mcsherry@inlandnewspapers.com

(909) 386-3875