Audits to focus on "split ticket" swing states where Trump won while down-ballot Republicans lost; donations sought to support effort

Hear our interview with Ray Lutz, originally aired on KNSJ Radio, on his election audit efforts and potential consequences

File photo:  Ray Lutz, founder of Citizens Oversight Projects

December 8, 2024 (El Cajon) -- Citizens Oversight, a nonprofit based in El Cajon, is launching a series of ballot image audits across key counties in swing states to examine the integrity of the 2024 election outcomes.

The audits will focus on swing states where Donald Trump won over Kamala Harris in the presidential race, while down-ballot Republicans lost.  Initial attention will be on areas such as Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and North Carolina.

Audits will be only feasible in areas where ballot images and cast vote records are available.

According to Citizens Oversight’s press release,“The effort is grounded in well-documented concerns about vulnerabilities in election systems, including the unauthorized exposure of voting machine software in recent years. This exposure may have allowed malicious actors to exploit weaknesses within the systems. The report from Mesa County, Colorado, revealed a `back door’ in the Dominion election management system (EMS), enabling results to be accessed and altered, raising further alarm about the potential for undetected manipulation. These same concerns were documented in the case DeKalb GOP vs. Raffensperger where the computer security expert Clay Parikh said the Dominion voting system security was `horrible,’ and that no election should be trusted.”

By Miriam Raftery

September 12, 2019 (El Cajon) – Ray Lutz, founder of the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens Oversight in El Cajon, announced today that he has formed an exploratory committee for a possible run for the 53^rd Congressional district seat.  Congresswoman Susan Davis announced last week that she will not be seeking reelection.

Lutz, a Democrat, lives in the 53^rd district since redistricting in 2010, though he previously ran against Rep. Duncan Hunter back in 2008.

Lutz and the organization he founded have been instrumental in attaining several landmark actions in our region ranging from a lawsuit that won $775 million for local ratepayers to a succesful fight that helped save East County's peforming arts center,as well as leading efforts to improve safety of  nuclear waste storage and battling to keep Blackwater out of the backcountry.

Our September 2017 radio shows are now online. For links to listen to the shows plus a full list of topics an interviews, click here or click "read more" and scroll down. (Sound files may take a few moments to load).

Our newsmaker interviews included Ray Lutz of Citizens Oversight on the San Onofre nuclear waste settlement and election integrity, judicial candidate Tim Nader, peace activists Nancy Ryan and SueEllen Treadwell. Plus we went on the road to the Ramona grape stomp and covered hot issues across East County, California and the nation.

 The East County Magazine Show airs Mondays and Fridays from 5 to 6 p.m. on KNSJ, 89.1 FM.  Our shows rerun on Tuesdays at 9 a.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.  Read more and listen to our September shows:

By Miriam Raftery

September 10, 2017 (San Diego) – After Citizens Oversight sued San Diego’s Registrar of Voters, a judge ruled that in future elections, the 1% manual tally must include mail-in ballots dropped at the polls or received days after the election, as well as valid provisional ballots.  But now a last-minute amendment slipped into Assembly Bill 840 by an organization of election officials  would eliminate that requirement statewide – a move Lutz says puts election integrity at risk and could allow tampering with certain ballots to occur undetected.

Listen to our interview, originally aired on KNSJ 89.1 FM Radio, by clicking the audio link amd scroll down for highights. Also hear about a major difference in votes cast late vs. early – and why Lutz believes if all the local ballots had been examined, it may have changed the outcome in the Democratic presidential primary.

East County News Service

January 11, 2016 (San Diego) – A ballot proposal has been filed with the San Diego City Clerk on behalf of 20 civic organizations that endorse a Charter Amendment for an independendent Community Review Board on Police Practices. On January 13^th at 9 a.m. the City Council's Rules Committee will consider whether or not to refer the measureto the full City Council for placement on the 2016 ballot.

By Miriam Raftery

March 10, 2015 El Cajon)--El Cajon’s City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to start the bidding process for long-awaited repairs needed to reopen the East County Performing Arts Center,, which has been closed for over five years.   Staff estimates the repairs will cost $2.92 million dollars.

By Miriam Raftery

December 2, 2014 (San Onofre) - By a unanimous vote, the California Public Utilities Commission has approved the $3.3 billion San Onofre settlement. No public comment was allowed at the hearing, which was held in San Francisco despite the fact that the ratepayers impacted all live in Southern California.

Council also adopts fees for second-hand shops

By Janis Russell

September 10, 2014 (El Cajon)- At yesterday’s El Cajon City Council meeting,  many people expressed their views once again on the city’s proposed long-term lease of East County Performing Arts Center to Rock Church—with the majority present opposed to the deal.

By Miriam Raftery

August 12, 2014 (El Cajon)—El Cajon’s City Council will vote at today’s 3 p.m. meeting on directing staff to pursue a draft final agreement with Rock Church for establishing a partial lease of the East County Performing Arts Center (ECPAC).  The deal would also authorize Rock Church to lease land adjacent to the theater to construct a new building for the church that would be partially available for city use.

The measure is on the consent calendar, however ECM has received several e-mails from community members who are concerned  about separation of church state issues and about the long-term loss of the theater for public use during a significant number of hours each year.  They want to see any leasing decisions halted until the city follows up on its promises to hire a professional theater management company.

By Miriam Raftery

Updated April 11, 2014 (El Cajon) – By a unanimous vote, the El Cajon City Council on Tuesday asked the City Manager to prepare a request for proposal for groups seeking to rent or lease space at the East County Performing Arts Center. 

The theater has been closed for several years, in need of major repairs. Recently Council voted to allocate funds for renovations and is now moving forward to attract additional tenants in hopes of reopening the theater  next year.

But some community members testified that they believe the city should first make good on its promise to hire a professional theater management company, before making commitment to lock in time blocks for groups such as the Rock Church, which wants to use the theater for church services on Sundays.

By Miriam Raftery

October 18, 2013– Former Congressional candidate Ray Lutz of El Cajon was arrested in November 2011 for attempting to register voters at the Civic Cente Plaza downtown.  This week, Lutz announced he has entered into a settlement with the City in which his arrest record will be expunged and the City will agree not to arrest people in the future for peaceful political activity in public spaces of private property.

"Our goal was to send a clear message and require that the city admit they were wrong. This is about as close to an admission of guilt you can get from the city. We want to make sure this never happens again,” said Lutz.

Case tests "Pruneyard" Supreme Court Decision when applied to public areas

September 14, 2012 (San Diego) – El Cajon activist Ray Lutz, founder of the watchdog Citizens Oversight organization, filed suit on Sept. 13, 2012, alleging a false arrest on November 29, 2011, while he was registering voters in San Diego's Civic Center Plaza, effectively the town square of San Diego.

April 9, 2012 (El Cajon) -- The East County Democratic Club will have two speakers focused on El Cajon at its meeting at 7 p.m. on April 19 at Coco’s Restaurant, 1025 Fletcher Parkway, El Cajon. 

Simon Mayeski, board member of Common Cause, a citizen's watchdog organization committed to holding government officials accountable, will discuss his perspective on El Cajon's city government and its lack of representation of the many resident ethnic groups and women.  Ray Lutz, National Director and founder of Citizens Oversight Project Committee (COPS), which acts as a governmental watchdog and helps empower local citizens to make changes in their community, will report his observations of significant events at recent City Council meetings.

Goldman Sachs is majority owner of property management firm headed by Senator Feinstein’s husband

Story by Miriam Raftery, photos by Ron Logan

November 30, 2011 (San Diego) –Startling ironies came to light today in the case of Ray Lutz, an East County political activist and former Democratic Congressional candidate arrested yesterday for refusing to move a voter registration table out of the Civic Center Plaza.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Dennis Richardson
June 10, 2011 (San Diego)—Just four days after its sky crane dropped a Sunrise Powerlink tower 200 feet, a second transmission line tower has toppled in the Imperial Valley.
 

Following last Monday’s accident, SDG&E promised in a press release that the company was “taking immediate steps…to investigate what occurred today in order to ensure that this does not happen again.”

But it did happen again. Today at 8 a.m.,  the Sun Bird Erickson Air Crane helicopter was placing the fifth of five towers near Plaster City when three of the helicopter’s four hooks released.  Dangling by just one hook, the 15,000 pound tower was lowered to the ground and released, where it tipped over.  Fourtunately, no one was injured in either incident.  But residents of East County, where construction of Powerlink is also underway, are voicing concerns over safety of workers and the public.