Judge orders Manuel Perez to change “misleading and illegal” ballot designation

A superior court judge has ordered the Registrar of Voters to change County Supervisor Manuel Perez’s designation on the ballot to conform with state law

Back in March, Palm Desert City Councilmember Jan Harnik, who is running against Perez for the supervisor seat, filed suit over Perez’ title on the ballot.

Read: Jan Harnik files lawsuit against Supervisor Perez

Monday, the judge called Perez’s ballot title “misleading and illegal.” Perez was appointed to the position by Governor Jerry Brown after the death of Supervisor John Benoit. On the ballot, Perez’s title is listed as supervisor and state law requires all appointed officials to use the word “appointed” as part of their ballot title.

Perez responded to the ruling with the following statement:

We are disappointed that the judge ruled against the county registrar of voters and their guidelines and past precedence for ballot designations. Harnik’s lawsuit was nothing more than an overly technical gotcha that won’t have any impact on the election. The only impact this lawsuit had was to waste a lot of people’s time and a lot of our tax dollars. The suit also reflects the Harnik campaign’s continued hypocrisy. Her consulting team agreed with the county registrar in 2016, when they worked with another Supervisor who was appointed and used the exact same ballot designation that they just sued over.

The primary election will be held on June 5.