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Lamb and Hardy headed to Nov. runoff |
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Saturday, 07 June 2008 |
 Independence voters cast their ballots in Tuesday’s primary election. Only about 100 residents made it to the polls in Independence Tuesday. Photo by Mike Gervais By Mike Gervais
Register Staff 6-5-20008
The results are in and the people have spoken, but exactly who will take the bench as Superior Court Judge and who will serve as Inyo County District 5 Supervisor will have to wait until the fall.
Incumbent Brian Lamb and challenger Thomas Hardy were the top two vote-getters for the judgeship on Tuesday and – barring any change in results – will be entering a runoff in November after soundly defeating fellow candidate Mark Johnson.
Incumbent Richard Cervantes and challenger Michael Dorame in the Fifth District will also be advancing to the General Election in November and after knocking third challenger, Bill Wenzel, out of the race.
In the other contests, incumbent Susan Cash took the Second District supervisorial seat and Marty Fortney won the seat for Fourth District supervisor, while voters shot down Proposition 98 and approved Prop 99.
Candidate Floyd “Justin” Barton, who ran unopposed, was elected to Inyo County Marshal. There were also 52 write-in candidates for that elected position.
According to Inyo County Elections Officer Mary Roper, there is a slight possibility that uncounted absentee and provisional ballots could result in a majority vote for either candidate for Superior Court Judge or Fifth District Supervisor.
“We have 1,000 unprocessed absentee ballots, but I don’t know how many are in the Fifth District yet,” said Roper.
When those ballots are counted at the end of the week, there is a chance that one of the candidates for judge or the Fifth District supervisor may take the majority vote and win the race.
If the absentee and provisional ballots don’t result in a majority vote for either candidate, those names will appear on the November ballot, Roper said.
Incumbent Lamb received 1,700 votes on Election Day, that is, 43.36 percent of the total votes cast on Tuesday.
Challenger Hardy came in a close second with 1,247, or 31.80 percent of the total votes cast in his favor.
Johnson received 957, or 24.41 percent of the vote. There were also 17 write-in candidates for the bench on Tuesday.
The race for Fifth District Inyo County supervisor was also a close one, with only 87 votes separating Cervantes and Dorame.
Again, the incumbent, Cervantes, came out on top, winning 326 votes, or 48.73 percent.
Dorame received 239 votes in his favor, or 35.72 percent of the total votes cast.
Wenzel received 99 votes, or 14.80 percent of the total votes cast.
There were five write-in candidates in that race.
The other local races, for Inyo County marshal, Second and Fourth District Inyo supervisor and primaries for 34th Assembly District and the 25th Congressional District, are all undisputed.
In the race for Second District Inyo County supervisor, Cash came out on top with 356 constituents casting a ballot in her favor, or 54.60 percent of the total votes in the district.
Challenger Ted Gardner wasn’t far behind with 288 votes, or 44.24 percent of the vote. The margin between the two candidates is narrow enough to force a run-off if a high percentage of the provisional ballots that have yet to be counted were cast in Gardner’s favor.
There were also seven write-in candidates in the district, or 1.08 percent of the votes.
Down in the Fourth Supervisorial District, the race was much more decided.
Candidate Marty Fortney won his seat on the Inyo County Board of Supervisors with 457, or 57.20 percent of the vote.
Carroll “Butch” Hambleton received 337, or 42.18 percent of the vote. There were also five write-ins for that supervisorial seat.
Inyo County voted along the same lines as the rest of California and shot down Prop 98, which would have prevented government from taking private property such as homes, farms or businesses and turning it property over to a private person or organization for any purpose, and also outlawed rent control.
Voters moved to approve Prop 99, which prevents governments from forcing the sale of private property – unless it will be owned and used by government to benefit the public or protect public safety. Prop 99 also keeps rent control in place.
In Inyo County, 2,139 voters, or 56.41 percent voted to shoot down Prop 98. Only 43.59 percent, or 1,653 voters, supported the ballot measure.
On Prop 99, 2,494 voters moved to approve the measure and 1,278 voted “no.”
Poll workers on Tuesday expressed some dismay in the voter turn-out for this primary election, and placed the blame with the state, saying that if the presidential primaries were held in June, as they traditionally are, more residents would have been motivated to come to the polls.
“I’m a little disappointed,” said Independence election volunteer Sandee Bilyeu. “It’s been really slow today.”
Only 40 percent of Inyo County’s registered voters made it to a polling place or remembered to send in their vote-by-mail ballots.
Only 402, or 18.98 percent, of registered nonpartisan voters, 1,525, or 46.31 percent, of registered Democrat voters and 2,070, or 45.88 percent, of registered Republican voters cast their ballots.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 July 2008 )
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