Editing Vernon, California (section)

=== Elections of 2006 ===
The city held no contested or meaningfully competitive elections from 1980 to 2006. Out of five city council members serving in 2006, only one had been chosen by the voters, the other four having been appointed to their positions by city officials.<ref name="Embattled" />

Most of the city's fewer than 90 voters are city employees or connected to city employees who live in homes rented at a nominal fee. In 1979 a firefighter tried to run for mayor and was immediately evicted and told he couldn't run.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

In 2006, a few people moved into Vernon and ran for city council, the first time in more than two decades that there was a competitive race for city council. Eight people converted a 1950s-era office building into a five-room apartment (the building had previously been used as a tanning facility turning sheepskin into billiard/pool pockets), and three of them filed to run for office. In response, the city turned off their power and attempted to evict them as illegal squatters.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/us/02vernon.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1 |work=The New York Times |first=Adam |last=Nagourney |title=Vernon, Calif., May Be Undone by State |date=March 1, 2011}}</ref> The City of Vernon alleged that the men were part of a [[hostile takeover]] attempt by convicted felon [[Albert T. Robles]], who nearly bankrupted the nearby city of [[South Gate, California|South Gate]] as treasurer, and Eduardo Olivo, a former Vernon attorney who also worked with Albert T. Robles in South Gate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sewell |first=Abbey |last2=Becerra |first2=Hector |date=2013-06-14 |title='Little' Al Robles' big job: Make his own name in politics |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-little-al-robles-20130614-dto-htmlstory.html |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>[https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-little-al-robles-20130614-dto-htmlstory.html LA Times - ‘Little’ Al Robles’ big job: Make his own name in politics]</ref> The city tried to cancel their registrations but was ordered to allow them to run and to count the ballots.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

On June 30, [[California Secretary of State]] [[Bruce McPherson]] called on the city to count the votes and expressed his support for the state to take over the responsibility of conducting the city's elections. During the trial it was alleged that all three of the newcomer candidates had direct ties to Albert T. Robles: Alejandro Lopez is a first cousin, David Johnson Jr. is the brother-in-law of a business partner, and Don A. Huff is associated through Eduardo Olivo. In March 2006, Judge David P. Yaffe ruled that the city could not prohibit legally registered voters who reside within its boundaries from running for city council. The city had to be ordered to allow the election to proceed. An election was held under a court order on April 11, 2006. But the city clerk, Bruce Malkenhorst Jr., refused to count the ballots until the legal disputes were resolved, and temporarily ordered the ballots to be sealed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Becerra |first=Hector |date=2006-04-13 |title=Vernon's Inaction on Votes Stumps Experts |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-apr-13-me-vernon13-story.html |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> In August 2006, [[Los Angeles Superior Court]] Judge Aurelio Munoz ruled that the newcomers received free rent and jobs prior to registering to vote and that they were involved in a scheme orchestrated by Albert T. Robles and Eduardo Olivo to "steal" the election, but that such actions were not illegal. On October 16, 2006, it was announced that city officials were ready to count the votes from the contested April 11 election. The officials failed to prove their claim of voter fraud. A judge granted Vernon's motion to count the votes. The challengers lost by a landslide.