WESTMINSTER (CNS) - The Orange County District Attorney's Office has launched an investigation prompted by a “Vote Here'' sign found outside the campaign headquarters of Republican Westminster city council candidate Kimberly Ho, it was reported today.
The D.A. announced the investigation after a video surfaced on Twitter showing a handmade sign that said “Vote Here'' outside of Ho's re-election campaign office, The Orange County Register reported. The cell phone video was posted by Clarity OC, a grassroots organization that supports transparency in politics.
Justin Frazier, a member of the group, said he shot the video and called the Orange County Registrar's Office after he and others in the organization spotted the sign around 11:30 a.m. while driving past Ho's office on Beach Boulevard, the Register reported.
“We wanted to make sure it wasn't an unregulated voting place,'' the newspaper quoted Frazier as saying.
Minutes later, after Frazier and others parked, he said their cars were swarmed by Ho and several other people wearing “Michelle Steele for Congress'' shirts. Then Ho and others from the office went back into the campaign headquarters and began moving boxes to the back of the building. At about the same time, some other people emerged from the office and attempted to discard what Frazier said appeared to be empty envelopes, the Register reported.
Ho told the group that her headquarters was a “legal voting place'' and ordered Frazier and his group to leave, according to the newspaper.
Van Thai Tran, a former state assemblyman and an attorney for Ho's campaign, said ballots were being collected at Ho's headquarters but no voting was taking place. He believes the “Vote Here'' sign may have been planted, though he didn't say who might be responsible, the Register reported. He acknowledged there was a second sign outside of Ho's campaign headquarters, in Vietnamese, that read “Ballot Room.''
In the afternoon, a pair of investigators from the Orange County District Attorney's office arrived at Ho's campaign headquarters and spoke with Tran for several minutes, the Register reported. Details about the investigation were not revealed.
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