Measure to Allow Card Clubs in City Leading by 208 Votes
Hawaiian Gardens is still counting the votes in this week’s special election on whether to allow card clubs in the city, and a final tally will not be available until at least Monday.
Measure A was leading by 208 votes after 1,306 were tallied Tuesday night, but nearly 400 absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be counted.
The ballots must be verified by Los Angeles County officials before they can be counted at City Hall, said City Clerk Domenic Ruggeri. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, that cannot happen until next week, he said.
That hasn’t stopped supporters of the measure from claiming victory. When a preliminary tally was announced Tuesday night, poker proponents in City Council chambers leaped to their feet and embraced, shouting in victory.
Opponents, including Councilwoman Kathleen Navejas, refuse to concede defeat. On Wednesday, Navejas complained of discrepancies between the number of provisional ballots that election workers reported receiving and the number actually sitting in City Hall.
Provisional ballots were completed when campaign workers failed to find voters’ names on the city’s list of registered voters.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
