6:00am | Four early winners in the evening were declared with their overwhelming leads in the absentee voting — Suja Lowenthal with 62% for her 2nd District re-bid; Doug Otto with his 67% lead for his LBCC seat; and Felton Williams and Jon Meyer each with their respective 62% and 75% leads for their LBUSD districts.
“I really appreciate the vote of confidence from residents in the Second District,” Suja told the Long Beach Post. “I didn’t have any opponents in 2008, so I viewed this campaign as an opportunity to communicate directly with voters and tell our story of partnerships and achievements on their behalf. Our shared narrative is undeniable. Together, we have accomplished much. There is much more ahead. Let’s get back to work.”
The most watched races of the evening were the 4th and 8th Districts for City Council. Al Austin and Lillian Kawasaki ended up being neck-and-neck for the 8th when absentee ballots were initially counted. However, as precincts reported, Austin eventually edged out Kawasaki with a 55% lead.
Austin, happy and swarmed by congratulatory supporters, simply said, “I’m so happy our message resonated [with voters] and to have been elected to the Long Beach City Council.”
The 4th District battle will most likely need a re-count1 while waiting on some 1,843 mail-in and provisional ballots that need to be reviewed. Daryl Supernaw headed the trail by only 36 votes over Patrick O’Donnell and 40 votes past John Watkins come 1:00am.
Supporters of 4th District write-in candidate O’Donnell are fearful that being just that — a write-in — might have indirectly lost the current councilmember votes. After speaking with an elections officer about the complications of O’Donnell’s write-in status, he stated that only “unclear or entirely misspelled names would count against Mr. O’Donnell. ‘Mickey McDonnell’ or ‘Patty MacDonald’ would not be counted.” An eager supporter quipped, “What if they just wrote ‘Pat’?” The elections officer was quick to correct, “Just ‘O’Donnell’ works — but not just Pat.”
A run-off in June will be likely, putting O’Donnell’s name on the ballot if so — not as a write-in, much to his advantage.
FOOTNOTES:
1Municipal Code 1.21.030 was officially ordered late last night. It states, “The city clerk shall order a full recount of the ballots in any municipal election wherein the difference between the two (2) candidates receiving the most votes is one-half (½) of one percent (1%) or less and the difference in the absolute vote is fifty (50) votes or less. The city shall pay all attendant costs.” This section is intended to supplement those provisions of the California Elections Code relating to recount.