| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: October 24, 2024 Case #: 24NF2629
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Fullerton City Council Candidate Pleads Guilty
to Misdemeanor for Falsifying Nomination Paperwork
Candidate Scott Markowitz is not eligible to take office
if elected in November 5, 2024 Fullerton City Council Ward 4 Election.
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Fullerton City Council candidate for Ward 4 has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor section of the California Elections Code for falsifying nomination paperwork stating he personally collected the signatures necessary to qualify him for the November 5, 2024, Fullerton City Council election. As a result of the falsified nomination paperwork, candidate Scott Markowitz will not be eligible to serve on the Fullerton City Council should he be elected to the seat.
Ballots have already been printed with Markowitz’ name as a candidate for Fullerton City Council Ward 4. Due to his ineligibility to serve on the City Council, if Markowitz is elected, the City of Fullerton would be forced to hold a special election to elect a candidate eligible to be seated.
City Council candidates are required to sign an attestation under penalty of perjury that they personally collected the signatures necessary to qualify as a candidate for a particular elected office.
After multiple unsuccessful attempts by Orange County District Attorney investigators to contact Markowitz, investigators secured a warrant for his arrest last week. He was arrested by Orange County District Attorney investigators and booked into the Santa Ana city jail.
One felony count of perjury by declaration and one felony count of record of forged or false instrument were dismissed in exchange for his guilty plea to one misdemeanor count of 18660(a) of the California Elections Code, admitting to making a false affidavit concerning signatures appended to an initiative, namely his nomination papers.
He was sentenced to 160 hours of community service and ordered to pay restitution in an amount yet to be determined.
On August 9, 2024, Markowitz signed candidate nomination paperwork under penalty of perjury that he was the circulator of the candidate paperwork and collected the 30 nomination signatures. Anyone over the age of 18 can circulate the nomination paperwork, but the person signing the paperwork must be the same person who witnessed the signatures in person. Markowitz attested under penalty of perjury that he personally witnessed the signatures, but numerous voters who signed Markowitz’s nomination paperwork told district attorney investigators that Markowitz was not the circulator of the paperwork, and he did not witness them signing the nomination papers, rendering the signatures invalid.
“American democracy relies on the absolute integrity of the electoral process,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Voters must have total confidence that every election is being carried out in a fair and unbiased manner. Interference in the electoral process in any manner and at any stage jeopardizes the will of the people being carried out while eroding the trust of voters that their vote counts. As the elected District Attorney of Orange County, I refuse to allow our electoral process to be subverted and exploited by anyone. The voters had an absolute right to know that Scott Markowitz was never qualified to have appeared on the ball for the Fullerton City Council election and I am grateful that he admitted his wrongdoing and is allowing voters to participate in the electoral process with that knowledge. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office remains fiercely committed to investigating and prosecuting election fraud to ensure the voice of every Orange County resident is heard when they cast their ballot.”
Deputy District Attorney Heather Heslep-Morrissey of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.
Click Here to view the full press release.
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