City Council.

The other candidates are incumbent Tony Ding, Carina Rivera, Jeanne Raya and Isela Lopez Bowles.

In a written statement, Avila provided a photo of a business card from his former employer, Republic Services, which lists his title as municipal manager.

“This is a political attack from my opponents and their team,” Avila said in a statement. “Currently, we are actively seeking legal action to ensure accountability, protect the integrity of this election, my personal integrity, and the well-being of my family.”

He said he submitted the title for his candidate statement but never claimed in any way to be the city manager of San Gabriel.

“The translation of this statement into Spanish and Chinese by the County is beyond the candidate’s control,” he said in the statement.

Avila said during a recent candidate forum that he no longer works for Republic Services.

The I-Chinese American Political Action Committee on Friday held a news conference and released a statement addressing concerns about the translations, which they said confused voters.

“There is no alternative wording for city manager in Chinese and this gives the impression that our current city manager is running for office,” Zig Jiang, vice chairperson of the PAC, said.

On the ballot, Avila is referred to in English as a municipal sales manager. His candidate statement translates municipal manager into municipal/city manager in Chinese, according to Frank Yeh, honorary chairperson of the PAC.

“Most Chinese voters have a high regard for this title and may vote for whoever holds it,” Jiang said. “This creates an unfair election.”

Five people, including PAC members, brought up the concern during the public comment period of the Oct. 15 City Council meeting.

“We are not targeting any particular candidate,” Yeh said. “We are simply stating the facts.”

Two days later, the city of San Gabriel sent a letter to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk informing them of the confusion.

San Gabriel Chief City Clerk Sharon Clark wrote that when Avila submitted his papers to run for office, he requested municipal manager be the ballot designation to represent his job title for a local waste hauler.

“I denied his ballot designation on the grounds it might mislead the public,” Clark stated.

Avila’s second choice of municipal sales manager was accepted. Clark passed along the concerns brought up during public comment.

“At the meeting we were informed that when translated into (Mandarin/Cantonese) his title became ‘City Manager,’ ” Clark stated. “I have subsequently been informed that this error may have been repeated in some other translations.”

Michael Sanchez, a spokesperson for the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office, said in a statement Friday that, in San Gabriel, candidate statements are submitted to and approved by the city clerk.

The statements are subject to a public review period prior to approval, Sanchez said. Once approved, the statements are translated.

“The County cannot legally change a statement submitted by the candidate and approved by the filing officer,” Sanchez said.

David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said it is the government’s responsibility to make sure election materials are as accessible for non-English speakers as they are for English speakers.

“People who don’t speak English are just as entitled to participate in the process as people who do speak English,” Snyder said.

Matthew Jarvis, a professor of politics, administration and justice at Cal State Fullerton said Southern California is only rivaled by New York City in terms of the diversity of languages spoken, but it is even more unique because of the breadth of languages spoken that are not similar to each other.

“When you get to languages that are just so distinct and different, English and Chinese and Tagalog and Swahili or something, there’s not a common frame of reference,” Jarvis said. “Translation errors I would imagine are more problematic in the Southern California context and more common just because the languages don’t come from the same family.”

Avila ran unsuccessfully for City Council in the 2022 election. The PAC has endorsed Ding and Rivera for the council.