Facts

On August 8, 2022, Andrew Maria filed, pro se, a civil rights complaint against the County of Ventura's Board of Supervisors. In essence, Maria believed that the November 2020 elections were unfair because the voting machines used contained a computer backdoor security risk that would allow computer-savvy individuals to alter vote totals without detection. Accordingly, he asserted three civil rights claims.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended that, given that he exposed this possibility, it was now up to defendant to prove that its voting system and procedures were fairly conducted. Specifically, he argued that by using voting machines with these security risks, defendant deprived its citizens of knowing if their votes were accurately counted, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and due process rights. Moreover, the situation also violated the U.S. Constitution's Guarantee Clause because voters of the tainted elections could not guarantee the republican form of government.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant argued, primarily, that dismissal was warranted because plaintiff lacked standing to pursue his claims, because he failed to satisfy the injury-in-fact element of the standing requirement.

Result

The court granted defendant's motion to dismiss.