Monte Sereno councilwoman convicted of illegal voting in Oregon
Turner maintains her innocence; allegations surfaced in 2020 election
Monte Sereno Councilwoman Rowena Turner was convicted of illegal voting last October in Oregon circuit court after allegations that she voted in both California and Oregon for years gained public attention in 2020.
The Republican councilwoman, along with her husband, Ahval Turner, and son Sean Edward Turner, pleaded “no contest” to charges of illegal voting during the November 2018 general election in Josephine County, Ore., where she owns a vacation home.
Elections records show Turner has been a registered voter in California since at least 1990, when she changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. Documents show she was also registered to vote in Oregon in 1999 after purchasing property in Grants Pass, and voted there in more than a dozen elections from 2004 to the 2020 primary election.
Turner maintains that she is innocent and considers her dual voting lawful.
“I believe I did nothing wrong,” she said in a written statement to this newspaper. “But fighting the charge would have meant spending a year or more in court, with all the concomitant expense.”
Allegations of her voting in two states for years surfaced in 2020, a year when election integrity was under intense scrutiny after former president Donald Trump accused, without evidence, mail-in ballots of being vulnerable to voter fraud.
Turner said she was “targeted” by a group of current and former councilmembers, and “people running against for council” who reported her to the Oregon Secretary of State.
The Monte Sereno City Council was to meet Jan. 18 for the first time since learning of Turner’s conviction. When asked for a comment that morning, Councilman Bryan Mekechuk declined.
The Turners were initially charged with Class A misdemeanors, and were later convicted of Class A violations and each fined
$440. Court documents state that Turner “did unlawfully vote or offer to vote in any election knowing the person is not entitled to vote.”
Christopher Heywood, Turner’s attorney, said that while Turner accepted a violation for the offense, “she was adamant she would not plead guilty.”
“Had she not accepted that, would have indicted her under a felony,” Heywood said. “So she believed she was innocent of the charges that had a complete defense, but it’s a risky move to ignore a violation offer and litigate a felony.”
While Turner was convicted in Oregon, it remains unclear if she faces charges in California. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. The DA’s office and the California Secretary of State both confirmed in 2020 that they were looking into the accusations made against Turner.
In Oregon, Turner voted primarily on local issues like property tax measures, Heywood said. Turner’s home in Grants Pass is valued at $1.2 million.
“I have never voted twice in any election,” Turner said. “I have never voted twice for the same candidate in two different locations. I maintain my innocence of these charges.”
Elections records from both California and Oregon show Turner cast ballots in both states in five general and two primary elections, including 2010, 2012 and 2014 general elections, the 2016 primary and general elections, and the 2018 general and 2020 primary.
Heywood said Turner was only charged for the 2018 offense because Oregon’s statute of limitations expired on her alleged previous offenses, and at the time of arraignment, the information about 2020 had not yet been released.
The federal Voting Rights Act outlaws “voting more than once,” but bringing charges against someone for illegal voting can be complicated because state governments define the act differently, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.
Oregon state law explicitly states that voting in more than one state is illegal, while California state law just says voting twice in the same election is prohibited, making it easier to convict in Oregon.
“Oregon’s a little out of step on this than the rest of the country is,” Heywood said. “Mrs. Turner pays taxes in Oregon, but based on Oregon’s laws, she’s not allowed to vote, which is an issue constitutionally from a ‘no taxation without representation’ perspective.”
Turner has served on the Monte Sereno City Council since 2016. She has worked as a marketing manager for Silicon Valley technology companies and taught high school science and math to incarcerated youth.