Official Election Results Plus Recount Info

RECOUNT DEADLINE SUNDAY NIGHT
So, baring any recount requests, what follows is the "official" result of the November 2014 election.  I spoke with Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley earlier today about the recount deadline.  Any person who wishes to request, and pay for, a recount of any Orange County race must do so by midnight, Sunday, November 23, 2014.  Any request received after that time will be too late.  He provided a contact email address to be used by anyone requesting a recount - rovwebmaster@rov.ocgov.com.  I'm told that address will be attended throughout the weekend until midnight Sunday.

RACES
So, in no particular order except my personal preference, here's how several races that are of interest to me and a few others shake out at this point in time:

COSTA MESA
Katrina Foley is the clear winner.  Jay Humphrey trails Jim Righeimer by 47 votes.
Measure O, the latest iteration of a Charter scheme, was thoroughly thrashed at the polls.
Measure P, the unnecessary advisory measure with the messed-up ballot language is basically unusable.

COSTA MESA SPECIAL DISTRICTS
Incumbents Mike Scheafer, Bob Ooten and Arlene Schafer retained their seats, thoroughly thumping two candidates supported by the Riganistas, Peotter and Perry.
Jim Atkinson beat Ron Amburgey - another Riganista who lost.

LOCAL EDUCATION RACES
Incumbent, former OCC President and OCC coaching legend David Grant soundly defeated Joel Flores.
Charlene Metoyer thumped former trustee Michael Collier to fill the seat being vacated by Foley.
Incumbents Walt Davenport and Vicki Snell had strong showings to hold their seats.

OTHER SPECIAL DISTRICTS
Political king maker Dave Ellis failed to win a seat on the MWDOC board
Incumbents Steve Sheldon and Shawn Dewane beat termed-out councilwomen Leslie Daigle and Wendy Leece, respectively.

OTHER LEGISLATIVE RACES
Huntington Beach Mayor Matt Harper beat former Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry in the race to fill Allan Mansoor's Assembly seat.
Carpetbagger Michelle Steel, with the overwhelming support of the OCGOP hierarchy, crushed Mansoor in the race to fill termed-out John Moorlach's Supervisorial seat.
Perenniel candidate Dana Rohrabacher crushed challenger Suzanne Savary.

NEIGHBORING CITY RACES
In Huntington Beach, long time City Attorney Jennifer McGrath was convincingly ousted by Michael Gates.
The Huntington Beach council race resulted in both incumbents - Connie Boardman and Joe Shaw -  being tossed out in races that were not even close.
In Irvine, Mayor Steven Choi held his seat.
The BIG news from that city is the rejection of Larry Agran by the voters in the City Council race.

FIREWORKS
Both Villa Park and Huntington Beach approved so-called Safe and Sane Fireworks.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA
The voters in Santa Ana passed both Medical Marijuana measures on the ballot.

 

COUNCIL RETIREMENT AND BENEFITS
Yorba Linda voters overwhelmingly voted to eliminate pension and health care benefits for future councilmembers.

FAMILIAR NAMES
Over in Westminster a couple familiar names appear on the ballot.  Former Interim Recreation Manager Penny Loomer and current Costa Mesa Building Official Khanh Nguyen both secured seats on the Westminster School District Board.

So, that's it for now, folks.  Now we wait for decisions regarding possible recounts in races important to us.  Elsewhere in Orange County there appear to be some very close races that just scream for recounts.  When I know I'll let you know.