Validated Ballots Give Challenger a 2-Vote Victory : Election: Robert J. Prida defeats Esther E. Flores, 420-418, two days after the balloting. Officials had earlier set aside 43 questionable ballots.

It finally came down to two votes, but school custodian Robert J. Prida has gained a seat on the Hawaiian Gardens City Council.

Suspense over who would finally capture the third spot on the council ended Thursday with the counting of 38 ballots set aside on election night because of questions over their validity.

After the votes were tallied Tuesday, Prida had been one vote ahead of incumbent Councilwoman Esther E. Flores. The questioned ballots gave him the council seat with 420 votes to Flores’ 418. Former Councilman Lupe A. Cabrera, who served between 1972 and 1984, and medical records analyst Robert G. Canada won the other two seats.

In all, 43 ballots were set aside election night and sent to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder to be checked for validity. Some were cast by voters who had obtained absentee ballots but chose to vote at the polls. Others were ballots of people who said they were registered but did not appear on rosters at their polling places, said City Clerk Carol J. Dorfmeyer. Five of the ballots were rejected, she said.

All candidates picked up votes from the additional ballots, as did the ordinance to ban the sale and use of “safe and sane” fireworks in the city. The measure was soundly defeated.

Prida said he was glad to be the winner but added that it would have been all right if Flores had won because they were on the same slate.

“I would have backed her 100%,” he said. Flores was appointed to the council in 1990.

Canada, Prida and Flores ran with the backing of second-term Councilwoman Kathleen Navejas, who was accused by critics of trying to elect puppets to tighten her control of the council. She denied the charge.

“I’m nobody’s puppet,” Prida said. “Kathy is a good friend and the best campaign manager.”

The Hawaiian Gardens campaign was a bitter one, and the atmosphere did not improve on election night when absentee votes--counted late in the evening because of a malfunction in the vote-counting machine--changed the results of the election.

The 685 ballots cast at the polls put Cabrera in the lead, followed by Donald E. Schultze, another former councilman making a new bid for office, and challenger Alan Calcote. All were opposed to the Navejas slate.

However, when 458 absentee ballots were tallied, the lineup changed to Cabrera, Canada and Prida.

Cabrera accused Navejas of manipulating the absentee vote to elect her candidates. “A lot of pressure was put on people to vote for the slate,” he said. Navejas admitted that the slate used absentee ballots “as a strategy” but denied that people were pressured into voting for the trio.

“When the candidates went (door to door), they asked people if they wanted absentee ballots,” she said. “Since this is Easter week, and a lot of people are gone, they wanted to vote absentee.” Navejas said that in elections today, “if you want to win, you use absentees.”

Two days before the election, candidate Valerie Gaxiola died after a hit-and-run traffic accident. Another candidate, Mary Corrales, was critically injured in the same crash. Gaxiola received 106 votes and Corrales 102. Corrales, who suffered head, abdominal and chest injuries, was reported in fair condition Thursday, a hospital spokesman said.

In Maywood, political newcomer Dorothy Ramirez and longtime Councilman William A. Hamilton maintained their narrow leads after a count of 76 absentee and provisional ballots the day after the election. They finished ahead of challengers Tomas Martin and John R. Tallman. Incumbent Henry Santiago Jr. was the top vote-getter Tuesday. Ramirez is the second Latino to be elected in Maywood, where Latinos make up 93% of the population.

In the trustee race for the Long Beach Community College District, incumbent Judith Olmsted Powell has nosed ahead of challenger E. Gerrie Schipske, according to an unofficial tally of ballots from Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill and Avalon. Powell received 26.5% of the vote, Schipske 26.4%. Both won seats on the board along with incumbent Judy Polksy, the third-place finisher. Fourth-place finisher C. Thomas Dean lost his seat on the board.

UPDATED VOTE TOTALS

BELLFLOWER

19 of 19 precincts.

CITY COUNCIL, 2 Elected

Votes % Ruth Gilson 1,854 19.6 Ken Cleveland 1,698 18.0 Randy Bomgaars* 1,680 17.8 Joseph E. Cvetko* 1,475 15.6 Mary Jane McIntosh 923 9.8 Art Olivier 817 8.6 Rick Royse 687 7.3 John Butts 321 3.4

CUDAHY

2 of 2 precincts.

CITY COUNCIL, 2 Elected

Votes % John O. Robertson* 341 26.8 David M. Silva 308 26.4 Lawrence Galvan 290 24.5 Joseph R. Fregeau* 278 24.0 Michael R. Borrego 48 4.1

HAWAIIAN GARDENS

6 of 6 precincts.

CITY COUNCIL, 3 Elected

Votes % Lupe Cabrera 498 15.3 Robert Canada 432 13.3 Robert Prida 420 12.8 Esther Flores* 418 12.8 Don Schultze 392 12.0 Alan Calcote 327 10.0 H.M. (Lennie) Wagner* 178 5.5 Virginia Lee 162 4.9 Randal Black 139 4.2 Valerie Gaxiola** 106 3.2 Mary Corrales 102 3.0 Grant Winford 100 2.9

** candidate deceased

MEASURE

Fireworks law--Proposed ordinance prohibiting sale of safe and sane fireworks

Votes % Yes 335 36.5 No 581 63.5

LONG BEACH COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

3 Elected, 236 of 236 precincts.

Votes % Judith Olmsted Powell* 16,628 26.5 E. Gerrie Schipske 16,592 26.4 Trudy Polsky* 15,842 25.3 C. Thomas Dean* 13,573 21.7

MAYWOOD

6 of 6 precincts.

CITY COUNCIL, 3 Elected

Votes % Henry Santiago, Jr.* 490 12.2 Dorothy Ramirez 436 10.9 William A. Hamilton* 427 10.9 Tomas Martin 415 10.4 John R. Tallman 401 10.0 Salvador A. Contreras** 376 8.9 Michael Bueno 358 8.3 Robert E. Paltz 333 8.3 Marla Cano Tietze 304 7.1 Nicolas R. Rosiles 292 6.9 Jose D. Ceja 258 6.2

** candidate disqualified