Carolina Mejia
A judge dismissed a challenge to Carolina Mejia's candidacy for Thurston County Commission Friday, rejecting allegations she wasn't or isn't a U.S. citizen. He also required challenger Jon Pettit to pay her attorney's costs and fees.
"I'm just relieved that this is now over, and that I can move forward focusing on the key issues and focusing back on my campaign and moving forward to the general election," Mejia told The Olympian after the Friday hearing, which was held via Zoom.
Mejia is a Democratic candidate for Commissioner District 1, and handily won the seven-candidate primary in August, with Republican C Davis coming in second. The tumultuous race hasn't seen a dull moment since.
Also on Friday, Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall upheld a challenge to Davis's voter registration, meaning he needs to change the address on his voter registration to where he resides. Davis is also facing allegations that he's made teenage girls feel uncomfortable and anxious with his past behavior. Thurston County Republicans have withdrawn their endorsement of his candidacy.
Jon Pettit -- a frequent speaker during local governments' public comment periods and vocal supporter of third-place District 1 candidate Bud Blake -- filed a court challenge to Mejia's candidacy, alleging Mejia isn't a U.S. citizen based on an investigative report he said he commissioned through an unknown third party.
Blake has said he wasn't involved in bringing the allegations, and Pettit has previously told The Olympian he also supports C Davis.
Pettit's allegations triggered immediate condemnation from local and state Democrats, who declared the act racist. Mejia has provided copies of naturalization papers and a passport to the Thurston County Auditor's Office.
Pettit officially filed an affidavit in Thurston County Superior Court Aug. 21 challenging Mejia's right to appear on general election ballots, citing the investigative report, which he wrote indicates "fraudulent representation of critical measures to determine citizenship either at time of the voter's registration and or there afterwards..."
He alleged the first five digits of her Social Security number are invalid, and that the report found her drivers license shows a residence in Tennessee. He also cited an online statement made by a local attorney that he construed to mean Mejia applied to become a citizen in 2015, which Pettit wrote makes it "highly unlikely" that she could've been a citizen before she registered to vote the same year.
In a request filed Aug. 25, Pettit requested the Clerk of the Court subpoena Mejia and "all documents related to her voters registration and immigration and naturalization for United States citizenship."
At Friday's hearing, Pettit noted his "numerous attempts" to resolve the issue by requesting Mejia's certificate of naturalization and said he's familiar with the naturalization process because his wife recently became a U.S. citizen. Later, he also seemed to question her integrity as a judicial clerk at the court. He said he'd look forward to the opportunity to question Mejia.
His challenge was about preventing fraud, he said, mentioning during the hearing that Mejia's actions could potentially be considered a felony, and lamenting he'd done what he could to not disrupt her life.
Mejia's lawyers argued that Pettit's effort wasn't legally or factually sufficient, that it should be dismissed, and that the court should award sanctions of attorney fees and costs to Mejia "for having to defend herself against such baseless allegations."
And, they argued, Pettit doesn't have the ability to subpoena those documents. Since Pettit has the burden of proof and voter registration is presumptive evidence of a person's right to vote under state law, Pettit would have to overcome that presumption.
"We do not live in a country where unelected people -- vigilantes, effectively -- can challenge other people's bona fides and demand answers," attorney Dmitri Iglitzin said at the hearing.
Even if all the legal mechanisms worked in Pettit's favor, Mejia's lawyer argued, she became a U.S. citizen Oct. 22, 2015, and registered to vote as her first act as a citizen.
The lawyers sent Pettit a letter Aug. 28 with their arguments and requested he withdraw his petition, but he did not.
Friday, Iglitzin started with a statement about how "deeply troubled and offended" they were by Pettit's actions, calling it a "classic birther attack" and likening it to false allegations brought against President Barack Obama and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris. He alleged Pettit's accusations were based on hearsay.
Mason County Superior Court Judge Monty Cobb disagreed with Mejia's lawyers that the challenge was frivolous on its face based on state law. He said the question boiled down to whether Mejia is qualified to be a county commissioner, which leads to whether she's a qualified voter, which leads to whether she's a citizen, since no other aspect of her voter registration really seemed to be in question.
Cobb was appointed to preside over the case as a visiting judge. All Thurston County Superior Court judges recused themselves because Mejia works as a judicial assistant at the court.
He did agree with Iglitzin that Pettit had probably misinterpreted the local lawyer's online statement, and that Pettit hadn't provided meaningful information for the court to consider.
Cobb dismissed the contest and said Pettit is required to pay Mejia's attorney's costs and fees. The decision, he said, is final and can't be appealed.
Reached by phone Friday, Pettit said he still doesn't believe Mejia was a citizen when she registered to vote. He said nothing was resolved because they didn't provide documents.
"It's very concerning that somebody who wants to represent all of the citizens of Thurston County chooses not to display or provide what is usually considered a trophy by any naturalized citizen," Pettit said. "Be proud of it, don't hide it."
When The Olympian asked Iglitizin what he'd say to someone who doesn't understand why a person wouldn't hand over those documents, he said people with power in the United States are not entitled to "try to block the doors" to historically disadvantaged people trying to share power.
"They're wrong, because, notwithstanding the behavior of the President of the United States, older white men don't get to force other people to produce a justification for being able to participate in the political process," Iglitzin said. "They have that right just as much as anyone else."
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