VENTURA : Judge to Rule Soon on Ballot Recount
A Ventura accountant who failed by one vote to qualify for a runoff in the race for county auditor-controller will have to wait until at least Monday to find out whether a judge will order a manual recount of the ballots at county expense.
Superior Court Judge Melinda A. Johnson said she would probably make a decision in the case next week during a hearing on a civil complaint filed by Ventura accountant Scott Weiss.
Weiss’ attorney, Daniel J. Schmidt, asked Johnson to order a full recount of the 113,000 ballots cast in the June 7 election. Short of that, Schmidt asked the judge to force county election officials to count 274 ballots cast by voters who punched chads for two or more candidates. Those ballots were considered spoiled and not counted.
Weiss has contended that he would have edged out opponent Richard Morrisset had those ballots been counted. Morrisset will face appointed Auditor-Controller Thomas O. Mahon in a runoff in November.
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