Bernard Parks voted in June – presumably for himself – despite not being eligible to vote at his alleged address
The question asked of Republican Presidential nominee John McCain now needs to be asked of Bernard Parks, candidate for the Board of Supervisors: How many houses do you have?
Hopefully Parks can answer the question, but if public records are any indication, the answer is quite complicated.
In summary, Bernard Parks takes a homeowners tax exemption at one house outside his current his Council District and outside the City of Los Angeles; he is registered to vote and votes at another address where he hasn’t lived since February; and he lives at a third house in another precinct.
So what’s the problem?
To start with, Parks was required to file a new voter registration affidavit or change of address to be eligible to vote in the June Primary Election.
He didn’t re-register, but he did vote at the polls on June 3, 2008, according to certified Registrar of Voters records. He fraudulently voted for himself.
In addition, as Parks was filing to run for the Board of Supervisors, he certified under penalty of perjury on February 29, 2008 that his residence was at 4132 Don Ibarra Place despite having already moved to 4420 Don Milagro Drive.
The 4132 Don Ibarra Place residence is the same address where Parks has been registered to vote since October 6, 2006 – just prior to his re-election campaign for the Los Angeles City Council. He hasn’t updated his voter registration with the Registrar of Voters since.
If Parks failed to re-register to vote after moving he could have voted provisionally at his new polling place, based on his new residence, or he could have voted provisionally at the Registrar of Voters office. He would have been required to re-register where he voted for future elections. But he did not. (Elections Code Section 14311)
If Parks moved within fourteen days of the June 2008 primary election, he could have voted in his old precinct. Trouble is, Parks moved long before that, in February 2008. (Elections Code Section 2035)
If neither of the above applies, Parks was required to file a new voter registration affidavit or change of address to be eligible to vote in the June primary election. But he did vote at the polls on June 3, 2008, according to certified Registrar of Voters records.
Section 14311 of the Elections Code states:
14311. (a) A voter who has moved from one address to another within the same county and who has not reregistered to vote at that new address may, at his or her option, vote on the day of the election at the polling place at which he or she is entitled to vote based on his or her current residence address, or at the office of the county elections official or other central location designated by that elections official. The voter shall be reregistered at the place of voting for future elections.
(b) Voters casting ballots under this section shall be required to vote by provisional ballot, as provided in Section 14310.
This news comes on the trail of revelations that Parks has been claiming a $7,000 annual property tax exemption at yet another address, outside the city he was elected to serve.
The State Elections Code gives weight to considering the residence on which a homeowner’s exemption is claimed as a person’s residence for registration and elections purposes.
Elections Code Section 2031 reads as follows:
“If a person has more than one residence and that person maintains a homeowner's property tax exemption on the dwelling of one of the residences pursuant to Section 218 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the residence subject to the homeowner's property tax exemption is that person's domicile.
However, this presumption shall not apply in the event any other residence is listed as the person's current residence address on any driver's license, identification card or vehicle registration issued to that person by, and on file with, the Department of Motor Vehicles.”
In addition to failing to pay his taxes in full, Bernard Parks has been violating the elections code while voting for himself.
Are voters expected to believe that in addition to accidentally becoming a member of an extreme right-wing political party, accidentally taking a homeowners exemption on a residence where he doesn’t live, accidentally certifying that he lives at an address that isn’t his – that Parks accidentally used a an invalid address when voting for himself in June?
Does Bernard Parks think he is above the law?
Bernard Parks is NOT who we thought he was.
-Bernard Parks Declaration - Front Page (PDF)
-Bernard Parks Declaration - Back Page (PDF)
