Countywide : Results Unchanged in Final Absentee Tally

With final absentee votes tabulated by the county registrar of voters office Friday, results in the Nov. 3 election remain unchanged.

In Westminster, Tony Lam retained his lead over school board Trustee Margie Rice for a two-year City Council seat, narrowly winning with 7,119 votes to her 6,987 votes. He becomes one of the first Vietnamese-Americans elected to public office.

Psychologist and university professor Charmayne Bohman took one of two four-year Westminster council seats, defeating Councilwoman Lyn Gillespie, 10,308 to 10,174. Councilman Frank Fry retained his seat with 10,517 votes.

In San Juan Capistrano, Collene Campbell has won one of the closest races for a council seat in that city’s history. The final absentee ballots showed Campbell outpolling incumbent Councilman Jerry Harris by a 14-vote margin, 4,375 to 4,361.

Election results last week had Campbell ahead by a single vote. A partial tally released earlier this week extended the former planning commissioner’s lead to 11 votes before the final ballots were counted Friday.

A recount can be requested by anyone for a five-day period after the results are certified by the registrar of voters on Monday.

Neither Harris nor Campbell was available for comment Friday.

As expected, Carolyn Nash, a former planning commissioner and wife of former Mayor Doug Nash, maintained her position as top voter-getter with 5,405 ballots. Nash and Campbell are scheduled to be sworn in at the City Council’s Dec. 1 meeting.

In the close race for Harbor Municipal Court judge, Margaret R. Anderson won with 58,354 votes, while Debra Allen received 57,066 votes.

In the closely contested race for three seats on the Huntington Beach City Council, Jim Silva and Victor Leipzig won as expected, with 32,473 votes and 31,106 votes, respectively. Dave Sullivan won the third seat with 27,545 votes, edging out Susie Newman, who tallied 26,605 votes.

In other close contests, residents of a 48-home unincorporated area east of Orange voted 41-37 against annexation by that city. Initial results put the vote at 15 to 15.