Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that Compton City Councilmember Isaac Galvan and five others were charged today for obtaining fraudulent votes in a June runoff that ultimately was decided by one vote, Your Content has learned.
“Elections are the cornerstone of our democratic nation. We must do everything in our power to protect the integrity of the electorate process and to ensure that elections are free and fair,” District Attorney Gascón said. “The people of Los Angeles County expect and deserve a government that is free of political corruption at every level.”
Galvan (dob 2/14/87), Jace Dawson (dob 3/30/87), Kimberly Chaouch (dob 11/20/72), Toni Morris (dob 3/10/87), Barry Reed (dob 8/21/59) and Reginald Streeter (dob 7/16/70) were charged in case BA497713 with conspiracy to commit election fraud. Galvan also faces one count of attempted bribery with intent to influence an election.
Galvan and Dawson are scheduled to be arraigned today in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. The remaining defendants will be arraigned at a later date.
According to the criminal complaint, Galvan and Dawson, a former candidate for the Compton City Council, worked together to secure votes to ensure Galvan would retain his District 2 seat.
Chaouch, Morris, Reed and Streeter were allegedly registered to vote at Dawson’s address in Compton, even though they didn’t live there. All four are charged with voting illegally in the election.
Galvan won the election over challenger, Andre Spicer, 855 to 854. Galvan also is accused of trying to bribe a registrar employee as she was counting ballots on election night.
The case remains under investigation by the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles County Register-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office.