California city council race overturned, Democratic 'winner' charged with voter fraud

The city of Compton, California has been rocked with controversy after the winning candidate for the city council race was charged with voter fraud and bribery.

On Friday, a Los Angeles Superior Court found that four of the votes cast for two-term Democratic City Council member Isaac Galvan in last year’s city council election were by people who didn't live in the council district.

Although Galvan supposedly won last year’s runoff election by a single vote, Judge Michelle Williams Court ruled that -- after deducting the illegal votes from Galvan's total -- candidate Andre Spicer, who previously contested the results, was the actual winner, with a legal vote count of 854 to 851.

According to a Los Angeles Times report, prosecutors alleged that Galvan conspired with candidate Jace Dawson to direct voters from outside the council district to cast votes for Galvan at the polls. Galvan was further accused of attempting to bribe an elections official with concert tickets, per Dean Logan, the county’s top elections official.

"I'm elated," Spicer told NBCLA late Friday.

"I'm grateful to the judicial system," he said. "This is something we've been fighting hard for -- for the last 11 months."

The 39-year-old businessman added that rumors of voter fraud have been common in Compton for years and said that he often worried that the community could lose its faith in voting.  

"I think this helps to get us engaged again," he said. "It's just a relief for the entire city to expose it, and hopefully, rid ourselves of it."

Galvan was arrested last year, along with five other people, and charged with conspiracy to commit election fraud and bribery with the intent to influence an election.

"Galvan is also accused of trying to bribe a registrar employee as she was counting ballots on election night," the DA's office said in a statement last year.