ELECTIONS : Race for Council Seat Attracts Light Turnout : Thousand Oaks: Markey takes early lead over Loh in bid for pivotal post. Voters and candidates seem relieved the contest is over.

In an election marked by low voter turnout, homicide detective Mike Markey took an early lead Tuesday over attorney Trudi Loh in the race for the pivotal fifth Thousand Oaks City Council seat.

Candidates Lance Winslow, John Ellis and Ramaul Rush lagged far behind Loh and Markey. A sixth candidate, Ekbal (Nick) Quidwai, withdrew from the race two weeks ago, but still received a handful of votes.

As polls closed around Thousand Oaks on Tuesday evening, voters and candidates alike seemed tired and relieved that the three-month contest was over. Turnout was low, with about 27% of the city’s 62,000 registered voters casting ballots. Nearly half of those voting had filed absentee ballots.

“They are coming in very light from Thousand Oaks,” said Bruce Bradley, the county’s assistant registrar of voters.

Markey, who had narrowly missed being appointed to fill the seat last fall, was confident as the votes were tallied.

“I feel vindicated,” Markey said. “This shows people believe in me.”

Watching the returns, Loh acknowledged, “It doesn’t look real good.”

The race was widely viewed as a chance to decide the future of the city by breaking a council deadlock on growth issues.

Loh and Markey, both veterans of past campaigns, emerged as the leading candidates early in the election, picking up key endorsements and raising far more money than their opponents. Loh brought in about $25,000 and Markey $24,000.

In contrast, Ellis, Rush and Quidwai all raised and spent less than $1,000. Winslow raised several thousand dollars and loaned himself $2,500. But the mobile carwash business owner was plagued by news accounts of his unpaid traffic tickets, debts and subsequent court appearances.

The race officially began March 10, but for Markey it started in December, when the four-member City Council debated how to fill the seat vacated by Frank Schillo’s election to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Before the fall election, council members had tentatively agreed to appoint the fourth-highest vote-getter to Schillo’s seat if he won the supervisorial race. Markey placed fourth, but after Schillo stepped down the council split over holding a special election.

Two members, and many vocal residents, favored appointing Markey and sparing the $100,000 expense of a special election. But the two other council members opposed the appointment, saying voters would be disenfranchised without an opportunity to vote for the fifth member.

With the council hopelessly deadlocked, city rules mandated holding a special election.

Around Thousand Oaks on Tuesday, voters trickled into polling places to find a simple ballot: six names, only one hole to punch.

“It was quick and it was easy,” said Nancy Helwig as she left the United Methodist Church after voting for Markey.

There were no lines at the polls, despite a cost-cutting effort that eliminated more than half the usual polling places, reducing the number of voting precincts from 80 to 32.

Optimistically, John Murray and other poll workers at the North Ranch Community Center set up 20 voting booths early Tuesday in anticipation of as many as 3,500 voters. But by 1 p.m. Tuesday, with only 200 ballots cast, Murray was already contemplating taking down half the booths.

Like many Markey supporters, Greg Stelmar said he made a special effort to get to the polls Tuesday because he felt the homicide detective had deserved to be appointed last fall.

“I think it would have been fair to give it to the runner-up,” Stelmar said. “This might have been a waste of money. Maybe that is why the turnout is small. Voters have a sour taste in their mouths.”

But for first-time voter Corey Robinson, 18, there was no sour taste. The Westlake High School senior cheerfully voted for Loh, but said he felt all the candidates had something to offer.

Voters in Camarillo also went to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of a $55-million bond to renovate and expand schools in the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District. In early returns, the vote on the bond measure was very close.

Times staff writers Tracy Wilson, Christina Lima and Desiree Dreeuws, and correspondents Lisa M. Bowman, Jeff Mitchell and Catherine Saillant contributed to this report.