On March 13, a Superior Court Judge in California ruled that the lawsuit Ricardo De La Fuente v Padilla cannot succeed because of procedural problems. The issue is whether the candidate’s surname is De La Fuente or Fuente. He is running for U.S. House in the special election, 34th district, in April. He would have had a higher position on the ballot if his surname were deemed to be Fuente, as opposed to De La Fuente.
But the judge said the case is flawed because the Registrar of Voters of Los Angeles County was not included as a Defendant. Also the case had been filed on February 28, and the judge felt it should have been filed sooner. The ballots have already been printed. But the judge said that otherwise the lawsuit had merit.
Ricardo De La Fuente is the son of Rocky De La Fuente, independent presidential candidate in 2016. Thanks to Mark Seidenberg for this news. The case is Sacramento Superior Court number 34-2017-80002546.
It is a pretty lame complaint since California uses a random drawing. There is a 50-50 chance that De La Fuente would appear after or before Fuente.
As “De La Fuente” he is 12th of 23 candidates. A “Fuente” hewould have been 9th.
There are 19 Democrats, 1 Republican, 1 Libertarian, 1 Green, and 1 independent.
De La Fuente changed his registration to Los Angeles County in 2017. The Libertarian also changed his registration in 2017.
Alex Padilla’s Certified List of Candidates violates the California Constitution since it groups candidates by party preference.