By Robert Haugh
On Tuesday, the Santa Clara Charter Review Committee will present its report to the City Council on an effort to eliminate the right of Mission City residents to vote for our Police Chief and City Clerk.
The Committee is using data collected from a survey where individuals or bots voted multiple times and manipulated the results to support the Committee’s recommendation.
The Committee wants to change the Charter and have City Manager Jovan Grogan appoint a Police Chief and City Clerk instead of having them elected by Santa Clara voters.
At the October 17, 2023 Committee meeting, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Bojorquez admitted to the Committee that “if somebody wants to game the system, they can.”
After Santa Clara News Online reported on September 11 that the early survey results supported keeping the right of voters to elect Santa Clara’s Police Chief and City Clerk, the numbers suddenly changed.
Over 5,000 unregistered respondents voted in the survey. Those are responses that did not have to provide a name or a Santa Clara address to vote. They could be individuals or bots who voted multiple times.
The unregistered respondents/bots voted overwhelmingly to get rid of Santa Clara residents right to vote for the Police Chief by 93-7 percent and the City Clerk by 93-6 percent. That result supports the Committee’s recommendation.
They also voted overwhelmingly to allow the City Manager to make the appointment of the Police Chief (94 percent) and City Clerk (95 percent). That result also supports the Committee’s recommendation.
After questions about the survey by a few Committee members, Bojorquez admitted that the the unregistered responses had “likely multiple responses from individuals or bots.”
Wow.
Below is a sample of the data of how the unregistered respondents/bots answered the survey after the Santa Clara News Online September 11 story.
The time stamps show that it was an organized effort to manipulate the survey:
The uregistered respondents/bots were completed different from the registered responses that included names and address info of the respondents.
Those 243 respondents wanted to maintain the Charter as is with Santa Clarans voting for the Police Chief (72-26) and the City Clerk (66-30).
Those results are almost identical to a June 2023 survey commissioned by the the Santa Clara Police Officers Association.
This is a developing story.
[…] on November 5, 2023, Robert Haugh from Santa Clara News Online, published an investigative report regarding the Charter Committee Survey. It appears the city survey results were manipulated by Individuals or […]
It is nice to know what the number of questionable poll responses were made by bots and that this was overwhelmingly in favor of appointments instead of elections. However the poll was and was never going to be the reason why the committee voted to recommend appointments or elections. That die was cast with the fact that each committee member was appointed by a city councilperson who all had already decided what they wanted the committee to recommend.
There will be measures on the ballot for us to all vote for our preference and this will be one vote per registered voter. So in the end the will of the people will carry the day.
Really….., this is so silly, what can anyone say that makes any sense to support these fabricated numbers?
Why would any group of leaders, who just spent hours teaching us about Ethics, think this was going to be a good look?
Hopefully you will be getting a survey, this one is from Stand Up For Santa Clara.
Please take it…
Anyone else getting tired of all this BS?
Thanks Burt Field
[…] The justify their position they are using a survey that City staff says had “multiple responses from individuals or bots,” according to a investigative report on Santa Clara News Online. […]
Does it surprise anyone of the corruption of our City Council? With Anthony Becker and the other 49er 4 corruption remains.
The Santa Clara residents will be voting and the corruption will be exposed in a HUGE way!! The residents need to make the blatant cheat null and insist on exposing the truth in the March election, all residents need to stand together.
Thank you, Robert, for your dedication, courage, and tenacity in pulling back the curtain and exposing the virus of corruption that has infected so many of our councilmembers, and poisoned so many critical decisions that were absolutely detrimental to Santa Clara citizens, but beneficial to Santa Clara’s own version of ‘Tyohoid Mary’, billionaire Jed York, etc al.
This is going to get absolutely crushed at ballot. What a waste of time. 70-30 issue. Maybe worse.
1971
1994
70 to 30 No
MrMyers
Political surveys use REGISTERED VOTERS.
Matt, this one didn’t and it is VERY political. Perhaps you meant meaningful political surveys.
And for all of this the city is spending how much money again?
Looks like it’s a total waste of money thanks to the 49er whiners.
Table the issue. Forever!
Point taken, Mr Myers
SANTA CLARA. MAYBE 50K REGISTERED
Random Sample 500
Look at 3 out 4 elections
Six districts? Ok 300 50 for every district match it for random 50 city wide
Betcha it is 60 40 no
Vote again and check the names and resident addresses.
The city should conduct a poll of registered voters. This would not be that hard to do.
The entire community survey is unreliable, not just the unregistered portion. Of the 243 online “registered” responses, only 52 provided name, age, and gender to help better identify their response as unique. This indicates most didn’t want to expend the effort to fully complete the registration process. Those who took time to provide personal information are just 1 in 5 (21%) of registered submissions. With the lack of controls even so-called registered voters could have been the same people using unverified names, email and/or physical addresses. Thankfully, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office won’t have these issues leading up to a March 2024 vote.
The SCPOA survey Robert mentions above wasn’t conducted in 2023, it was completed on June 20, 2022. SCPOA used a company called Connect Political whose stated mission is “…full-service digital/social marketing and political strategies firm that will help you propel your message to your target audience.”
Both the Community Survey and SCPOA Poll Results should be considered invalid and dismissed by the Charter Review Committee. There have been enough testimony and research to support a City Council vote in putting the matter on March 2024 ballot.
Or, as one of the committee members suggested, the answers could have been cached & then dropped all at one. Pretty pathetic that the city in the center if Silicon Valley doesn’t have savvy staff that knows how to make a fool proof survey and/or that folks are too intimidated to “register” for fear of retaliation. The city manager would be tasked to appointed a vetted police chief & city manager. There is nothing stopping the current police chief & city manager from applying for the job.
Jed and the 49ers doing everything they can to get more control over Santa Clara. Sooner or later the residents of Santa Clara need to wake up and say no to this and the “Jed York 5”.
Attention District Attorney Jeff Rosen:
Becker was a good start, but the rot of corruption with 5 of the councilmembers and their incestuous relationship with Jed York et al is literally and blatantly usurping our constitutional voting rights in Santa Clara.
There has to be a way to track the IP addresses of these “votes”. There is some sort of digital fingerprint attached to them.
We need answers!