Local residents raise voter-roll and ballot‑count discrepancies during Lake Elsinore public comment

Two speakers representing a local election-integrity group told the Lake Elsinore City Council during public comment that they had identified discrepancies between ballots recorded on official statements and votes counted by the vote-counting system in the 2024 election and urged the city to follow up with the county registrar.

Greg Langworthy, who identified himself as a member of the Riverside Election Integrity Team, said his group compared ballot totals published on ballot statements to the number of votes counted by the vote-counting system and found a discrepancy of 33,888 votes. “There was a discrepancy of 33,888 votes,” Langworthy said. He referenced Election Code section 15302 as a legal requirement that ballots cast should equal votes counted and said he has raised the issue with the registrar of voters and expects a follow-up meeting after a special election.

Jim Niederecker, also with the group, summarized a county audit by a private data firm that the speakers said flagged roughly 270,000 addresses in Riverside County for review and described additional anomalies in the voter rolls they said the registrar should investigate — for example, records that appear to list implausible birth years. Niederecker urged the council to ask the county how many mailed vote-by-mail ballots were undeliverable and encouraged local officials to monitor costs associated with undeliverable mailings.

Councilmember Sheridan asked a clarifying question about whether the discrepancy meant there were more votes counted than cast; a council member said the group would follow up by email and is scheduled to meet with the Board of Supervisors after a special election. Council members did not take action on the request during the meeting.

Why it matters: speakers framed the issue as a fundamental question of election integrity; they asked the city to support further review with county officials and to examine the county’s undeliverable-ballot rates and voter-roll maintenance.

Clarifying details from public comment: the speakers said they found a 33,888‑vote discrepancy between ballots recorded on ballot statements and votes counted, referenced Election Code section 15302, and cited an Experian-related county review that they described as identifying about 270,000 addresses requiring review for Riverside County. The speakers said they have raised the issue with the county registrar and scheduled follow-up meetings.