Newport Nixes Special Tax; O.C. Voter Turnout Is Light : Election: Measure to fund land preserve fails. In Irvine, school board member Smith leads council race.

Orange County voters turned out in small numbers Tuesday, rejecting a special tax in Newport Beach to buy undeveloped acreage, seating a newcomer on the Irvine City Council, and sifting through a host of candidates for school and water district posts.

On the most closely watched state propositions, Orange County voters rejected the school voucher and were split almost evenly on the state sales tax extension.

Orange County Registrar Donald Tanney said overall turnout stood at about 28%. Although low, the figure was slightly more than earlier estimates.

“I don’t think the fire affected the turnout,” he said, adding that he believed most voters were drawn by the sales tax and school voucher propositions.

By late Tuesday, Newport Beach residents were following a conservative fiscal tradition in their opposition to Measure A, a proposal that would have added $120 per year to homeowners’ tax bills for the purchase of 138 acres spread across three back bay parcels known as the Upper and Lower Castaways and Newporter North.

Although the $68-million bond issue had been supported by the city’s powerful Newport Conservancy, early returns showed the measure losing by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.

In Irvine, local school board member Greg Smith was leading a field of three candidates to fill a City Council seat left vacant by William A. (Art) Bloomer, who resigned in July to take a job in Virginia.

Although the race has lacked the divisiveness of recent political campaigns here, Smith’s lead over Marc Goldstone, 37, and Alireza Jazayeri, 47, remained steady throughout the evening.

A number of volatile issues await the new council member, including the development of strategies to deal with the nagging recession and the closure of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Like the two other candidates, Smith had supported the council’s efforts at maintaining a strong front in developing a conversion plan for the 4,700-acre El Toro base. Irvine and other South County city officials have been at the forefront of an increasingly sensitive countywide political battle over plans for El Toro’s conversion.

School board elections in the Orange and Santa Ana Unified school districts were marked by clear runaways and other races that were too close to call with a total of 15 candidates vying for six seats.

In Santa Ana, only Rob Balen seemed to be assured of taking one of the two open seats, while candidates Tom Chaffee, Richard Hernandez and Colleen Coombs continued to battle for the remaining post.

Throughout the campaign, all candidates in the Santa Ana race have said that students are failing to learn English fast enough, while parents have expressed concern about rising class sizes and reduced athletic programs.

In Orange, meanwhile, Martin Jacobsen was holding a strong lead in Area 1; James H. Fearn in Area 4; Max Reissmuller in Area 5 and Rick Ledesma in Area 7.

Candidates in the Orange race have said that the district could save much-needed revenue by offering less generous health insurance plans to district employees.

Voters also seemed determined to put a new face on the Santa Margarita Water District.

The district, besieged by embarrassing disclosures that the agency’s top managers engaged in questionable spending practices, has eight challengers looking to take over four seats on its board of directors. But results were not available late Tuesday night.

But partial results in the Los Alisos district, which serves a population of 40,000 in the Lake Forest area, shows that challengers Rod Jewell and Preston Bishop were ahead of incumbent Harry C. Johnson in a race for two seats.

Times staff writers Mary Lou Pickel, Lily Dizon and Mark Platte contributed to this story.