Did a California Mayor Pro Tempore Plead Guilty to Election Fraud?
He violated state law by not meeting residency requirements. He was not accused of any ballot tampering or vote manipulation.
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Viral social media posts have claimed that the mayor pro tempore of a California town pleaded guilty to election fraud:
This tweet came on the heels of an article from fringe right-wing publication the Epoch Times. The Epoch Times article detailed the arrest of Alex Campbell, the mayor pro tem of Crescent City, California, who violated state election law by not living in Crescent City. This reporting originated with local news outlets.
The Epoch Times article is true. Lying about one’s eligibility to hold office indeed constitutes election fraud. But social media posts that highlight only his guilty plea and his resignation are missing context. Posts that attempt to draw a parallel between Campbell’s crime and the false allegations of election fraud that followed the 2020 presidential election are misleading. Campbell has not been charged with ballot tampering, manipulating any vote counts, or altering the outcome of the election.
If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.
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I read this and was a bit confused what's going on, since I doubted "Mayor Pro Tempore" was an elected post.
Alex Campbell ran for city council of Crescent City, California in the November 2020 election, and was elected to the council then. After he was elected, he became mayor pro tempore in December, for reasons I cannot easily google right now.
The issue at hand is that elected councilmembers of Crescent City must live strictly within the city limits. Campbell had been renting a room within the city limits of Crescent City, but owned property located on Del Mar Road, a street just outside the city limits (but close enough that a Google search for this street actually lists it in Crescent City). Campbell had claimed to have spent more than 50% of his time in the rented apartment instead of the owned house, thus fulfilling the residency requirement.
Consequently, he is pleading guilty to election fraud with respect to the residency requirement for his councilmember election, and just happens to be mayor pro tempore at the time of his resignation.