ANAHEIM : Council Election Results Disputed

For the second time in two months, results of a neighborhood council election in the city are being questioned.

When results of the Central City neighborhood election were tallied Sept. 28, they showed that Mario Gonzalez was the new president.

But after the city checked the addresses of 18 voters who had not shown proof of residency, two votes were disqualified and, as a result, Mike Blanco was declared the winner, 32 to 31.

“We have some people who are not real happy about that,” said Steve Swaim, community services superintendent for the city.

Among those is Maria Garcia, a community activist who was involved in an earlier debate over the Patrick Henry neighborhood’s council election. After two Latinas, Concepcion Perez and Delia Varela, were elected, some residents raised questions about the eligibility of some voters to cast ballots. Garcia and others, in turn, alleged anti-Latino bias.

After an investigation, the city upheld the results of the Patrick Henry election.

Now Garcia is encouraging residents who voted for Gonzalez in the Central City election to bring proof of residency to a neighborhood council meeting planned for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Washington Community Center.

Swaim said that the city is “willing to listen to anything” and will investigate the balloting if new facts emerge. For now, he said, the city considers the revised election results to be valid.

Neighborhood councils advise the City Council on how to spend federal grants to improve communities. Anaheim has four such councils.