Certification of Long Beach Recount Barred

A Superior Court judge blocked the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday from certifying the results of a controversial recount that gave the apparent loser a one-vote victory in a City Council election.

Judge Robert H. O’Brien also allowed Tonia Reyes Uranga to examine some questionable ballots that led to her one-vote loss to contractor Mike Donelon. Long Beach officials had refused to give her access to the ballots.

The City Council was scheduled to consider Tuesday night whether to certify contractor Donelon’s narrow victory over Uranga, one of the first two Latinos elected to the nine-member council earlier this month.

But O’Brien temporarily blocked any council action while Uranga is examining some ballots that were rejected for various reasons by City Clerk Shelba Powell. Long Beach officials had said that election codes prohibit the city from releasing election materials to the public.

Uranga, a community activist and former president of the Long Beach Children’s Museum, was ahead by seven votes entering the recount June 22, but her margin was erased when the city clerk’s office found several uncounted ballots. The recount put Donelon ahead, 2,932 to 2,931.

Officials from the city clerk’s office acknowledged that a mistake had been made, but said the final tally is accurate.

Uranga called O’Brien’s ruling “one step on the road to the truth.”

Assistant City Atty. Robert E. Shannon said the city will comply with the decision. “We felt the documents Uranga was requesting weren’t public records, so we wanted the court to order us to give them to her.”