VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN: They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If so, what does that make theft? I ask because in the world of politics and elections, it seems there’s an overdose of “imitation” taking place. In Atlantic City, New Jersey — where political corruption is almost mandatory — two political operators on trial for using a homemade sex videotape to blackmail a sitting city councilmember were just nailed for submitting hundreds of phony-baloney voter registration forms. Sure it’s unsavory, but voter fraud gets a bad rap. If nothing else, it shows that people care. What’s worse? A few dubious ballots cast or the fact that a tiny fraction of eligible voters bothered to head to the polls in California’s most recent special election? My question remains: How is it stealing if the other person threw it away?

Efforts in Santa Barbara County to show that voters actually do “care” have been decidedly mixed. Steve Pappas, a two-time loser in his quest for the 3rd District supervisorial seat, wasted a whole lot of time and money claiming he lost to Doreen Farr due to massive voter fraud. To call Pappas’s lawsuit all sound and fury signifying nothing would be a generous overstatement. Conspicuously lacking in his courtroom presentation was any sound, any fury, and most crucially, any evidence. He lost big, but Farr still owes attorneys $100,000.

Far more promising in the “we care” department is the nasty showdown currently consuming rival factions of the Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club, which encompasses both Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Push came to shove during last December’s annual board elections, when candidates backed by a group of Sespe activists led by eco-warrior Al Sanders swept. Victory proved to be short-lived, however, because the Sierra Club’s national organization declared massive voter fraud, decertified the results this February, and ordered a do-over that’s now underway. The deadline for submitting ballots for the new election is June 25 and in the meantime, the mud’s been flying fast and furious.

According to Greg Casini, who represents the Sierra Club’s national organization, no less than 40 percent of the ballots cast were obviously suspect. And the majority of those questionable ballots were cast for candidates associated with Sanders. We aren’t talking big numbers. Of the 6,500 members of the Los Padres Chapter, only 150 voted. But at least one was cast by a bona fide dead guy. In Sierra Club elections, ballots are cast with an accompanying membership number. About 20 ballots were cast using the identical number. Many of the numbers were for former members. Several were cast with numbers that were never valid. And the winners received a hugely disproportional number of “couples’ ballots,” which count for two votes instead of just one. Although couples’ memberships comprise only 15 percent of the total, they made up 71 percent of the December tally, and they heavily favored the Sespe faction associated with Sanders.

Blowing the whistle was Santa Barbara member Jim Childress, a UCSB marine biologist who sits on the Sierra Club’s election committee. Childress said he grew alarmed when he saw a large number of ballots written in the same handwriting, by the same pen, and folded in an identical fashion. He FedExed the ballots to Casini, who ordered the new election, one boardmember expelled, and the Los Padres Chapter placed on administrative probation for the next two years.

No one has confessed; no one has been identified as the culprit. According to one school of thought, it’s all about money. For four years, Sanders has been paid $30,000 a year to agitate on behalf of Ormond Beach, the site of significant toxic contamination. By many accounts, Sanders is a tireless organizer, who knows how to dissect an Environmental Impact Report, testify effectively at public hearings, and submit written statements both technically detailed and rhetorically stirring. He is also said to be polarizing, refusing to work with other environmental organizations also involved with the beach. Many Santa Barbara activists — focused on saving the Gaviota Coast — have wondered why Sanders and the Ormond Beach project got so much money. Last December, the board acted to cut off Sanders; it did so again in March.

Never one to run from a fight, Sanders has denounced the election decertification as a “coup d’état,” and complained about the imposition of “martial law” by the national Sierra Club. While one of the board candidates sympathetic to Sanders dismissed the 40-percent allegation as “a technicality,” Sanders was more comprehensive in his counterattack. Childress, he charged, had no permission to “abscond” with the ballots, and from the time he did, “the chain of custody was broken.” That’s legalese to imply Childress might have tampered with the ballots himself. Sanders further argued the “statute of limitations” had expired on the time members had to object to the election results, and that due process had been violated in how the national office conducted its investigation. To the extent there were election irregularities, he blamed sloppy record keeping by the Sierra Club, which he claims has never been able to keep membership names, numbers, and addresses straight. Certainly there was no intent to deceive. Sanders also disputed he couldn’t get along with other environmentalists, arguing those in question “had not paid their dues” and were intent on “selling out” Ormond Beach. As far as any factional dispute within the Los Padres Chapter, he described it as a fight between the real activists and those who would turn it into a “knitting committee.” In the meantime, he and his supporters are accusing the faction supported by the Santa Barbara members — Stephen Dougherty, Tony Biegen, and Mike Stubblefield — of supporting offshore oil development. You can imagine how that goes over.

The irony here, according to friends in the Sierra Club, is that the Sanders crew would have won anyway. The Santa Barbara faction ran a nonexistent campaign. This time, they’re hustling. Whatever happens come June 25, I’m betting more than 150 ballots get cast. Or, as Greg Casini put it, “Whoever rises from the grave to vote.” Just what the environmental movement needs — zombies!

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