Compton city councilman charged with election rigging, bribery in race decided by one vote

A Compton city councilman was arrested Friday morning and charged with conspiring to rig votes to secure his victory in an election he won earlier this year by just one ballot, officials said.

Isaac Galvan, 34, was one of six people arrested Friday and charged with conspiracy to commit election fraud and bribery, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors allege Galvan conspired with Jace Dawson, one of his opponents in an April primary for Galvan’s council seat, to direct voters from outside the council district to cast ballots in the race, according to the complaint.

At least three improper ballots were counted in the runoff election, ultimately swinging the race, according to the complaint. Galvan raked in 855 votes while Andre Spicer, a Compton native and entrepreneur, tallied 854 ballots in a June runoff election, records show.

Prosecutors also charged Dawson, Kimberly Chaouch, Toni Sanae Morris, Barry Kirk Reed and Reginald Orlando Streeter with conspiracy to commit election fraud. Chaouch, Morris, Reed and Streeter all voted in either the primary or runoff for the Compton City Council’s second district, despite not living there.

The defendants could not immediately be reached for comment. Late Friday morning, Galvan and Dawson were seen being led separately into a downtown L.A. courtroom in handcuffs for their arraignment hearing.

Both men pleaded not guilty and their attorneys declined to comment outside the courtroom. Another hearing is scheduled for Sept. 17.

Galvan was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit election fraud and one count of bribery. According to the complaint, Galvan went to the L.A. County Registrar’s office on June 4 “to observe the ballot counting and offered a registrar employee a bribe in an attempt to fraudulently influence the results of the election.” Galvan allegedly offered the woman tickets to see Banda MS, a Mexican ensemble group, according to the complaint.

“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,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón said in a statement. “The people of Los Angeles County expect and deserve a government that is free of political corruption at every level.”

A spokesman for the registrar’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Spicer had alleged fraud in the race and raised money for a recount, though the outcome did not change. Galvan was first elected in 2013 and describes himself as the city’s youngest and first Latino councilman.

Newly elected Compton Mayor Emma Sharif expressed shock when she heard the news about the arrest and charges against Galvan.

“I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on as I’m just hearing about all this,” Sharif said in a phone interview. “Naturally I’m very disturbed by this like the rest of the citizens of Compton would be.”

Galvan’s name has been linked to multiple corruption scandals in recent months.

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FBI raids Compton councilman’s home, Baldwin Park city attorney’s office in pot inquiry

The raid comes amid allegations in a lawsuit that cannabis businesses complained of paying thousands of dollars in cash to Baldwin Park officials.

Last November, federal investigators served a search warrant at his home as part of an investigation into marijuana licensing practices in Baldwin Park, sources told The Times. The searches came months after a former Baldwin Park police officer signed a sworn statement that he’d received complaints from three cannabis dispensary operators alleging “questionable business practices, which included paying as much as $250,000 cash in a brown paper bag to city officials.”

Galvan was also subpoenaed to testify in grand jury proceedings that ultimately led prosecutors to bring corruption and bribery charges against former Maywood Mayor Ramon Medina and nine others earlier this year, according to an official familiar with the investigation. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the matter candidly.

Galvan invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination during those proceedings and refused to answer questions, the official said.

Dawson, who finished dead last in the April primary, also came under scrutiny during election season after well-known L.A. activist Jasmyne Cannick began to question his qualifications, alleging he’d lied about living in the city, holding a doctoral degree and having connections to the administration of former President Obama.

“The people of Compton have enough problems without having their elected members and other imposters in the community trying to take advantage of their vote,” Cannick said Friday. “And that’s what Jace did, he went around telling people he worked for President Barack Obama …. and a congressman who had been dead as long as [Dawson] had been alive. And none of it was true. None of it.”

She said both Galvan and Dawson were in the eyes of Compton residents, referring to them as “double trouble.”

During the primary election, Chaouch, Reed and Streeter all registered to vote at Dawson’s Compton address and then cast ballots for him in the race, according to the complaint. Chaouch, Morris and Streeter are also accused of casting ballots for Galvan in the June runoff, despite not living in Compton, the complaint alleges.

Galvan began to talk to Dawson about working together in April, according to text messages described in the complaint.

“After the election maybe I can bring you on board to help me out,” Galvan wrote to Dawson in May.

On May 25, Dawson was approved for a job as a city liaison by the City Council by a 3-1 vote, according to the complaint. Galvan voted in favor, while then-Compton Mayor Aja Brown opposed, calling Dawson’s appointment “laughable,” according to court records.

For weeks, Dawson and Galvan repeatedly texted about getting ballots signed for the runoff election. On one occasion, Dawson told the councilman that he knew of a woman who would cast a ballot for Galvan even though she lived in Long Beach, because she was still registered to vote in Compton.

Friday’s arrests mark at least the second time L.A. County prosecutors have uncovered an attempt to manipulate mail-in voting in the 2020 election cycle. In November, two men were charged with attempting to register nearly 8,000 “fictitious, nonexistent or deceased” voters to receive mail-in ballots for the Hawthorne mayoral election. Ultimately, none of those ballots were tallied in the general election.

Cannick said she hopes that Los Angeles County authorities will continue to file more election fraud cases out of the southeast region and in other small towns where elections are determined by a few hundred votes.

“Hopefully, what happened today will send a message to other people who engage in voter fraud,” she said. “Particularly in these southeast cities, they have enough corruption, they have enough problems already without the people that they put their trust and faith in to participate in or actively engage in taking advantage of them.”