Council Elections Attract 40% of the City’s Voters

Considering that the only things on the ballot were four individual City Council races, the city’s primary election Tuesday drew an impressive 40% turnout.

According to the city clerk’s office, 54% of College Park East voters cast ballots to decide whether to recall Councilwoman Patty Campbell. She won by a wide margin and pleaded Wednesday for residents to “heal” the neighborhood rift that opened during a bitter five-month campaign to remove her.

But hot politics weren’t the only reason Seal Beach residents went to the polls. In District 3 (Marina Hill and parts of Old Town), a relatively docile race between Paul Yost and Stan Anderson logged a 47% turnout. Yost won.

In District 1 (Old Town and Surfside), a 29% turnout and a three-way race means Shawn Boyd and Matthew Duggan will face a runoff election May 12. Duggan beat Boyd by 11 votes but failed to clinch the 50% majority required for victory.

Only 28% of Leisure World voters in District 5 cast ballots to decide a race between incumbent Councilman Harry Fulton and former Councilman William Doane. Fulton lost by only 18 votes, or 1.6% of 1,093 votes. Fulton declined to blame low turnout for the loss. “He beat me,” Fulton said. “It’s that simple.”

That may not be the case. City Clerk Joanne Yeo said Wednesday that uncounted ballots remain. Those ballots were cast by people who don’t appear on voter roles but voted anyway. Each “provisional” ballot must be investigated by the county registrar’s office before it is counted, Yeo said. It was not clear on Wednesday how many votes remained uncounted.

“It’s not a done deal,” Yeo said.