Local Elections : COUNTY RACES : Heavy Voter Turnout Exceeds Expectations : Supervisors: Candidates for 2nd and 4th districts are locked in close contests.

Amid an unexpectedly heavy county voter turnout, Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo and challenger Trudi Loh were locked in a tight race for one supervisor’s race late Tuesday, while Simi Valley Councilwoman Judy Mikels and Moorpark Councilman Scott Montgomery battled in another close contest.

The two races were the most prominent on the county ballot on an Election Day dominated by Proposition 187--which ended up pushing Ventura County voters to the polls in greater numbers than election officials had predicted.

Election officials initially projected only 59% of the county’s 351,921 registered voters would cast ballots--about the same as in the last two gubernatorial elections. Instead, Bruce Bradley, assistant registrar of voters, said that number might go as high as 65% by final count--a turnout of roughly 229,000 voters.

“The only thing I can think of that would be driving this is (Proposition) 187,” Bradley said Tuesday night. “And the early returns show that this county is strongly in favor of it.”

A computer glitch delayed the counting of absentee ballots, so that only about half of the 48,000 absentee ballots were counted late Tuesday, Bradley said. The problem made it difficult for many candidates to judge their chances of victory by the early returns.

Even as the votes were being counted at the County Government Center, hunger strikers who had camped for three days without food in Oxnard’s Plaza Park literally brought the issue to the election headquarters, marching seven miles through the dark to get there.

Riot-helmeted sheriff’s deputies greeted them there--some standing guard on the roof, others mounted on horses, and still more stationed around the building waiting for a larger wave of angry protesters that never came.

In the race for the 2nd Supervisorial District, Schillo took a slight early lead over his aggressive opponent, attorney Loh.

“I think we will hold on to the lead,” Schillo said. “It’s got to be related to the amount of work I put into the race personally.”

Loh, however, remained hopeful that she would close in on Schillo’s lead before the night was over.

“We’re still right in there,” she said. “But I’d rather be ahead.”

*

The two candidates were running for the seat being vacated by Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, who is stepping down after one term. VanderKolk’s district covers most of the Conejo Valley and Port Hueneme.

In the 4th Supervisorial District, Mikels held a slight early edge.

But Montgomery said it was too early to concede in the 4th District, which covers Simi Valley, Moorpark and the Santa Rosa Valley.

“I can’t tell anything from these figures. We don’t even have all the absentee ballots counted yet,” he said.

In addition to the two supervisorial races, incumbent Thomas O. Mahon was outdistancing challenger Richard Morrisset for the job of county auditor-controller, according to early returns.

County voters also cast ballots Tuesday for eight candidates seeking three seats on the county Board of Education and for eight running for three trustee seats in the Ventura County Community College District. Voters also elected new members to eight city councils, 17 school boards and 18 special district boards.

John Tallman, a former Ventura College administrator, was ahead in the early vote in the district’s Area 1, which covers Ventura, Saticoy, El Rio and north Oxnard.

*

Four candidates were battling it out for an open seat in Area 2, covering the Oxnard Plain, Thousand Oaks and the Santa Rosa Valley. College Trustee Pete E. Tafoya was unopposed in Area 3.

Incumbent Albert Rosen had an early lead for one seat on the Ventura County school board, while challengers Angela N. Miller and Marty Bates were leading in the races for two other seats.

In the county’s two biggest local races, the battle for the 2nd Supervisorial District turned into one of the most expensive ever. Schillo and Loh, a political newcomer, spent more than $200,000 in a bitter campaign.

The key fight was over a proposal to develop a landfill at Weldon Canyon near Ojai. Loh, who ran on a pro-environment platform, opposed the plan, preferring instead to explore other options for disposing of the county’s trash, including possibly shipping it elsewhere by rail.

Schillo attacked Loh’s proposal, saying it would more than double trash rates for east county residents.

Loh lashed out at Schillo for his record on development during his 10 years on the Thousand Oaks City Council and accused him of mismanaging city funds.

*

A handful of Thousand Oaks voters surveyed at the polls Tuesday said they favored Schillo because of his support for the city’s new $64-million Civic Arts Plaza, which Loh once criticized as “a senseless project.”

“It’s going to be wonderful,” said resident Deborah Duclon. “It means my 7-year-old child is going to be in a city where there is culture. And to me, culture is education.”

Loh supporters, however, said they believed the project was too expensive.

“If it had been good times, that would be one thing,” said Bernice Booz, 83. “But there are so many other things that need to be done.”

The race in the county’s 4th Supervisorial District heated up in recent weeks when Montgomery demanded that Mikels reveal her stand on Proposition 187, the statewide ballot measure that would deny most government benefits to illegal immigrants.

Mikels refused, saying that Montgomery was trying to exploit an issue that had no place in the supervisors race.

Mikels counterattacked Montgomery, accusing him of misleading the public about his college education. She said he claimed on his resume to have a bachelor’s degree in management from Pepperdine University, when in fact he lacked 12 hours of general education courses and did not receive his diploma.

The only major issue the candidates disagreed over during the campaign was a proposal to train county firefighters as paramedics.

Backed by firefighters, Montgomery supports such a program, which he said is needed to improve emergency response times.

Mikels, who received campaign contributions from the county’s largest private ambulance company, said she is not convinced a county paramedic program is needed and does not want government taking on more services.

Some voters surveyed Tuesday said they were not impressed with either candidate because both received strong support from developers.