Recount Demanded in Dana Point Election : Politics: Just 18 votes separate defeated Councilman Bill Bamattre from winning challenger William Ossenmacher.

Because of the closeness of the June 2 City Council election, a city resident has asked for a recount of votes tallied for the two open seats.

Roger Calton, an attorney with a practice in Laguna Niguel and a supporter of defeated Councilman Bill Bamattre, said Thursday that the final tally was just too tight to let the election stand without a recount. As prescribed by law, Calton will have to pay $358 a day for the recount, which could take up to four days, said Rosalyn Lever, the county’s assistant registrar of voters.

Councilwoman Judy Curreri finished first in the final tally with 4,102 votes, but just 18 votes separated second-place finisher William Ossenmacher’s 3,737 votes from Bamattre’s 3,719.

“It was just awfully close, and the vote changed,” Calton said. “Originally it was announced that Bill Bamattre was ahead, but in the final tally he was a few votes short.”

Calton has the option of calling off the recount at the end of each day if it appears that there will be no chance of overturning the results, Lever said.

“He could just check with us after one day and see nothing has changed and figure anything further would be a waste of money,” Lever said.

For the election to be overturned, however, all 32 of Dana Point’s precincts must be counted, plus all absentee ballots, Lever added.

Anticipating that the vote will not be overturned, the City Council is expected to meet Tuesday and seat Ossenmacher, as well as elect a new mayor and a mayor pro tem.

The last time a recount produced a reversal in the county was in the June, 1986, primary in the 40th Congressional District. In that race, retired Judge Bruce Sumner defeated Art Hoffmann to become the Democratic candidate. Sumner was defeated that November by Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach).

“In that race, Sumner was a write-in candidate, so it was a little different,” Lever said. “You can’t really compare the two.”

In those days, write-in candidates were counted at the polling place, while today they are separated and counted at the registrar of voters office, Lever said.

“We are very confident our system today is extremely accurate,” Lever said.