Candidate Is 3 Votes Short, Wants Recount
City Council candidate Richard Bonner, three votes short of making it into the June runoff election, has asked for a recount of votes cast in last week’s municipal elections.
Bonner was one of four candidates in Council District 4 trying to oust incumbent City Councilwoman Jane D. Robbins. She received 38.1% of the vote, but needed more than 50% to avoid the June 4 runoff.
On Tuesday night, after the votes had been counted, Bonner was in third place behind Jean Sanders, wife of city Treasurer Wesley Sanders Jr. Bonner and Sanders were separated by 11 votes, but more than 30 ballots were provisional--meaning that the city clerk had questions about them that had to be settled by the Los Angeles County registrar of voters.
On Thursday, the registrar determined which of the ballots were valid and the vote totals were subsequently changed. Bonner ended up with 1,249 votes and Sanders received 1,252.
Bonner, a beauty salon owner making his fifth try for a council seat, barely missed being elected in 1987. That year, he fell 34 votes short.
The recount is expected to be held Monday in the City Council chambers.
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