Gay Loses to Walters by 76 Votes : Election: The final count of absentee ballots upholds her win over longtime aide to the late Gilbert Lindsay in the 9th District City Council race.

An anxiously awaited final count of 15,000 absentee ballots Tuesday upheld Rita Walters’ victory over Bob Gay by a razor-thin margin of only 76 votes in the race for the 9th District City Council seat.

“It’s one of the closest races we’ve had in Los Angeles in years,” said Frank Martinez, chief management analyst for the city clerk’s election division.

Semiofficial results last week gave Walters, a Los Angeles school board member, an edge of 208 votes over Gay, longtime aide to Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, whose death in December forced the election to fill the seat he had held for 27 years.

In the final tally, Walters carried enough of the remaining 550 absentee ballots to squeeze past Gay.

“It’s tight, but it’s still a win,” said Walters, 60, who moved to the 9th District two weeks after Lindsay died so she could qualify for the ballot. “But it’s also over now and I plan to get busy cleaning up my district and making it a better place to live.”

Gay, who for years angled to succeed Lindsay, had hoped the absentee ballots would turn the tide in his favor. In a door-to-door campaign, he had handed out hundreds of applications for absentee ballots to prospective voters.

“There’s not a lot to be said, the final count speaks for itself,” said Gay, who worked for 16 years under Lindsay. “I’m just glad I had the opportunity to run.”

In sharp contrast to Gay’s tearful comments to reporters a day after the June 4 election, he seemed upbeat Tuesday--even though his campaign was $100,000 in debt.

“I’m not going to get maudlin about this,” said Gay, who blamed his loss on Mayor Tom Bradley’s support for Walters. “That emotional display was something you’ll never see again from me.”

Instead, Gay said he is entertaining an offer of a staff position under City Councilman Nate Holden.

“The offer was whispered from Nate’s lips to my ear,” Gay said. “I haven’t decided whether to take it.”

Gay has requested that the city clerk’s office conduct a review of alleged irregularities at one polling place in the district. He said he does not intend, however, to challenge the election results.

Meanwhile, Walters faces the daunting task of bringing political unity to the district, which was split into two camps during the bitter campaign.

Walters was largely supported by parents, teachers and union members. Gay, a deacon in a small church, was favored by many influential pastors in the district, which envelops downtown Los Angeles.

Key issues in the race included the need for improved trash pickup, street cleaning, affordable housing, major supermarkets, improved transportation and a new strategy for future downtown growth in the district, one of the poorest in the city.

In another close race in the neighboring 8th District, Mark Ridley-Thomas held on to his victory over Roderick (Rod) Wright after the absentee ballots were counted.

Ridley-Thomas, who was endorsed by Bradley, garnered 422 more votes than his opponent.

In a telephone interview, Ridley-Thomas vehemently denied suggestions that he will do Bradley’s bidding on the City Council in return for the mayor’s help in the campaign.

“I do bidding for no one, it is not my style,” Ridley-Thomas said. “There is nothing I can imagine that would cause me to change.”

Absentee ballots have been playing an increasingly crucial role in city elections as more and more voters opt for the convenience of voting by mail.

Out of the total 262,741 votes cast June 4, 54,904, or about 21%, were absentee. The voter turnout was more than 19% of the city’s 1,233,919 registered voters, a relatively high percentage for recent elections, election officials said.

The final 15,000 absentee ballots to be counted did not alter the outcome of any of the June 4 races, or the citywide ballot measures.

FINAL ELECTION RETURNS

Final returns from selected Southland races. Winners appear in bold type. LOS ANGELES

CITY COUNCIL

District 1 *

64 of 64 Precincts Reporting

(Note: Candidates in bold in this council district will face each other in a runoff election.)

CANDIDATE VOTE % Mike Hernandez 3,362 41.82 Sharon Mee Yung Lowe 1,726 21.47 Sandra L. Figueroa 1,408 17.51 Frank Juarez Foster 916 11.39 Caesar K. Aguirre 329 4.09 Maria “Liz” Munoz 298 3.70

District 6

189 of 189 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Ruth Galanter ** 18,153 69.41 Mary Lee Gray 7,998 30.58

District 8

142 of 142 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Mark Ridley-Thomas 8,595 51.25 Roderick Wright 8,173 48.74

District 9***

115 of 115 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Rita D. Walters 6,251 50.30 Bob Gay 6,175 49.69

District 12

203 of 203 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Hal Bernson ** 17,705 51.24 Julianna Korenstein 16,844 48.75

BOARD OF EDUCATION

District 1

372 of 372 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Barbara Boudreaux 20,944 50.47 Sterling Delone 20,551 49.52

COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Office No. 5

2,730 of 2,730 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Kenneth S. Washington 115,800 51.60 Paul Cohen Koretz 108,582 48.39

* Primary Election

** Incumbent

*** Special Election

46th Assembly District

124 of 124 Precincts Reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Barbara Friedman (D) 3,427 15.99 John Emerson (D) 3,396 15.84 T.S. Chung (D) 2,273 10.60 Joselyn Geaga Yap (D) 1,980 9.23 Bob Burke (D) 1,828 8.52 Keith Umemoto (D) 1,691 7.89 Kathleen A.Torres (D) 1,535 7.16 Geoffrey Church (R) 1,316 6.14 Michael Cacciotti (D) 1,255 5.85 Jill Halverson (D) 1,159 5.40 Adam Schiff (D) 767 3.57 John Ladner (D) 423 1.97 Elizabeth Nakano (P) 201 0.93 Michael Everling (L) 115 0.53 Sal Genovese (D) 66 0.30

Party affiliation is indicated in parentheses:

(D) Democratic

(R) Republican

(P) Peace and Freedom

(L) Libertarian