DANA POINT : Council Election Recount Is Called Off

A recount of the June 2 Dana Point City Council election was called off Tuesday after two days of counting showed little change in the results, a county official said.

Registrar of Voters Donald Tanney said nearly 4,700 ballots, including 1,728 absentee ballots, were recounted, revealing only some “minor changes.”

During the process, City Councilwoman Judy Curreri, the top vote-getter in the election, picked up three votes, and William L. Ossenmacher and Bill Bamattre, the second- and third-place finishers, picked up one vote each, Tanney said.

“There was nothing significant, and certainly nothing that would affect the outcome of the election,” Tanney said. “We will not be changing the certified results. The numbers we released will stand.”

Unless all the ballots are recounted and the outcome actually changes, no recertification is done, Tanney said. The final results showed challenger Ossenmacher unseating Bamattre for the second seat on the five-member council by only 18 votes.

Dana Point resident Roger W. Calton, a Bamattre supporter, had asked for the recount and had paid $716 for two days of the process, Tanney said. When Calton failed to pay the $358 by 3 p.m. Tuesday for today’s work, the recount officially ended, Tanney said.