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Nail-biter
assembly race has Anderson ahead of Dale
By Billie Jo Jannen
The Alpine Sun
SAN DIEGO — The race for the California Assembly District 77 Republican nomination
remains among the closest statewide — with Joel Anderson of Alpine maintaining a whisper of a lead over Santee’s Jack Dale — a small enough lead, in fact, that absentee and provisional ballots could still make a difference, according to San Diego County Registrar of Voters Mike Haas.
By the time 50 percent of the countywide vote was counted last night, Anderson’s lead was less than one percentage point. By 1 a.m., with just under 65 percent of the vote in, that lead had increased to 1.38 percent. After what must have been a night of nail biting for both candidates, Anderson had inched ahead to achieve a lead of 1.8 percent, by the time 100 percent of the ballots were counted. At that time, Anderson’s total votes stood at 9,361 and Dale’s at 8,848.
As of press time Wednesday, 68,000 absentee and provisional ballots had yet to be counted.
As a very rough estimate, about about 8,500 of those may be expected to represent District 77 voters.
“It could change the outcome of the election...but the probability is low,” Haas said. In general, he added, the voting trend of polling place ballots would be reflected in the yet uncounted ones.
Haas said the ROV office would issue a daily 5 p.m. bulletin on the absentee and provisional votes counted in all races.
Until election results are officially certified, 28 days hence, the race may remain fluid.
Despite the public support of Rep. Duncan Hunter and the District 77 incumbent, Representative Jay La Suer, Debbie Beyer ultimately received only about 18 percent of the Republican primary vote.
Anderson — or in the case of a major upset, Dale — will face Democrat Chris Larkin and Libertarian Rich Belitz for the seat this fall, neither of whom faced a contest for nomination.
District 52
District 52 Representative Duncan Hunter will be challenged by Democrat John Rinaldi and Libertarian Michael Benoit for a seat Hunter has held for 26 years.
Representative Bob Filner, current incumbent of District 51, handily defeated fellow Democrats Juan Vargas and Daniel Ramirez. Filner will face Republican Blake L. Miles and Libertarian Dan Litwin in the fall election for the right to represent the massive congressional district, which includes the southern portion of the Back Country.
Bond issues
Prop G handily achieved the two-thirds it required to become law. As voluntarily self-imposed taxes go, it won by a landslide, with 77.5 percent of voters agreeing to tax themselves.
The proposition authorizes Grossmont Healthcare District to issue $247 million in bonds, the service for which will be paid out of a property tax surcharge of $19.89 per $100,000 assessed value.
The money will help help to complete the hospital’s emergency/critical care center, pay for seismic upgrades, and otherwise improve the aging facility to serve a growing population.
State propositions that would have funded universal preschool and built a number of new libraries failed to make the required two-thirds approval.
The San Diego County sheriff’s race was conclusively won by incumbent Bill Kolender, who garnered 69.8 percent of the vote. Opponent Bruce Ruff received 30.2 percent.
Voter turnout countywide stood at 385,474 — about 28.4 percent of its 1,357,840 registered voters.
Registered voters in District 77 number 214,796.
Haas said a bulletin will be issued later detailing community turn-out.
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