South County : Sumner Likely Winner as Recount Nears End

Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Bruce Sumner was 1,085 votes ahead of Lyndon H. LaRouche Democrat Art Hoffmann as the recount in the 40th Congressional District’s Democratic primary neared an end Thursday.

“It’s very close to the final finish point,” Registrar of Voters Al E. Olson said Thursday evening.

After three weeks of studying ballots, Olson said election workers have finished the recount for all ballots cast in 663 precincts. (Another 42 precincts in the congressional district either had no registered voters or no Democratic voters.)

Also Thursday, precinct workers counted the first 350 of about 2,000 absentee ballots cast in the Democratic primary. Given the pace at which election workers are counting ballots--they counted 47 precincts Thursday before beginning the absentee ballots--Olson said he now estimates the recount will be completed either this afternoon or Monday at the latest.

By day’s end Thursday, Sumner, a retired judge who waged a difficult write-in campaign to prevent Hoffmann from becoming his party’s standard-bearer, had a total of 16,250 votes compared to 15,165 for Hoffmann, a technical writer and follower of political extremist LaRouche.

On the June 3 election day, an unofficial machine count of write-in ballots had showed Sumner the winner. But several days later, the official tally from votes counted by hand at the precincts election night showed Hoffmann the winner.

Arguing that tired or confused precinct workers had failed to count legitimate write-in votes, Sumner demanded the recount. It is costing him $500 a day, but the county will pick up the tab if--as is now expected--the new tally shows him the winner.