Flawed ballot count delays McFarland election results
Californian staff writer
Last Updated: Wednesday, Mar 7 2007 10:47 PM

BY JENNY SHEARER

McFARLAND A problematic ballot count appears to have resulted in McFarland's incumbent mayor being re-elected, city officials said Wednesday evening.

It is unclear who won two open council seats, they said. There is a discrepancy between a hand count and machine counts that officials are trying to resolve.

In council chambers, a long whiteboard showed the six candidates' names and vote tallies as taken Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and afternoon.

Kern County Sheriff's Sgt. Bill Smallwood traveled with the ballots to Bakersfield and as they were moved by city staff for tallying. There are nearly 2,500 registered voters in McFarland, said Blanca Reyes-Garza, city clerk. There were 513 ballots cast.

That doesn't include the 42 absentee and provisional ballots verified with the Kern County Elections Division Wednesday morning.

Reyes-Garza mailed 457 absentee ballots and 200 were returned, she said.

Unofficially, incumbent Donnie Campbell and challenger Samuel Cantu have been elected to the City Council.

But Campbell thinks there should be a do-over of Tuesday's election.

"If I had my druthers, I'd hold the whole election over," he said.

There is a difference of only one vote between Campbell and challenger Humberto Topete, McFarland officials say.

A frustrated Topete wanted to know "How can they do this three times and nothing's been counted yet?"

Councilwoman Julie Rodarte, who wasn't up for re-election, said of winning by one vote in a handcount "you can see how this would cause a stir in town."

Unofficial results show Samuel Cantu has won a council seat. Still, Cantu said of the whole election: "I feel like we're in Florida."

His brother, Manuel Cantu Jr., was ousted in a recall election last August.

A woman who answered the phone at Mayor Kenneth Rosson's house said the mayor couldn't comment on the election's results but added he "will work with anybody for the betterment of this community."

McFarland is the only city in Kern County that doesn't use the county to administer its elections.

After consulting with an attorney about options, City Administrator Gerald Forde said staff with Anaheim-based Martin & Chapman Co., an elections-services company, will come to McFarland and retally the votes using machine and hand counts. That could happen Friday or early next week.

"It's their machine, it's their process. They have got to tell us what happened to the process ... This community is paying them a lot of money for their services," he said, adding the amount is about $25,000.

Forde wants the tallying process to be open. People who are interested in monitoring the retallying process should call City Hall, 792-3091, for more information.

Clerk Reyes-Garza has until March 30 to canvass the vote.

"The canvass could potentially add a fourth scenario," Forde said.

Election issues aren't new to Kern County. The county's June primary had its share of problems because of equipment challenges. Some voters were turned away instead of being given paper ballots. A higher-than-expected voter turnout in November made for some long lines at polling places.