Close Races Await Tallying of 30,000 Absentee Ballots

Several close Orange County elections and measures may not be decided for several days because 30,000 absentee ballots must still be counted, Registrar Donald F. Tanney said Wednesday.

It is unknown which races might be affected because the uncounted ballots are not marked geographically, Tanney said.

John V. (Jay) Humphrey, a Costa Mesa City Council candidate, stayed up until 10 a.m. Wednesday to find out voting results, only to learn that he trailed the third-place Mary Hornbuckle by 200 votes in a race for three open seats. “I’d rather have a clear decision now,” he said. “But I’m willing to wait with patience until they get a final tally. All you can do is hope.

“It’s not fair to my supporters to concede until the final numbers are demonstrated.”

Tuesday’s election produced a record number of absentee ballots--about 75,000--mostly from people hoping to avoid waiting in long lines at polling places, Tanney said. The next highest number of absentee ballots was 63,000, filed in either 1980 or 1984.

In the closer races, the absentee ballots “could extend the lead or reduce the lead, or change the winner,” Tanney said.

Workers are verifying ballot signatures by hand and will then count the votes by machine, Tanney said. He added that even though the registrar’s office will be kept open Friday, Veterans Day, he does not expect to have results until Monday. A final, certified count is not expected for 10 days to 2 weeks.

In unofficial results, Costa Mesa’s slow-growth Measure G passed by a slim 139 votes. A similar initiative in San Juan Capistrano, Measure X, was approved by 316 votes. Huntington Beach’s Measure J, which tied new development to improvements in public services, went down by 870 votes. Only 671 votes separate victor Curt Pringle from runner-up Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach in the 72nd Assembly District.

The unofficial countywide count, finished at 8 a.m. Wednesday, took 5 hours longer than during the June election because of the larger turnout and higher number of ballot measures, Tanney said.

The county’s voter turnout of 72% to 75% was the highest in Southern California. Turnout was 69% in Los Angeles County and 65% in San Diego County.

In June, Orange County’s turnout was 50%, Tanney said. In the 1984 general election, the turnout was 78%. A record 90% turned out in 1960, he said.

In June, voters averaged three ballot cards per person, compared to five in Tuesday’s election. Anaheim voters needed six cards, Tanney said. By comparison, voters in Los Angeles County had only one card to punch. Tanney said Orange County probably had more ballots to count than Los Angeles County, which had a lower voter turnout of 64%.

Tanney said most callers asking about the delay in getting final tallies seemed to understand when he explained that counting a total of 4.3 million cards simply takes longer.