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Vote counting inches toward finish
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More from Breaking NewsCounty election officials inched closer to the finish line on Wednesday, adding another 14,394 ballots to the results of last week's election, but shedding little light on the races that are still too close to call.
Ventura County has now counted 294,736 ballots, or about 88 percent of the those cast. The remaining 41,000 or so are absentee ballots that were handed in at the last minute, or provisional ballots, cast by voters whose registration status couldn't be clearly determined on Election Day.
Because election officials don't know where the uncounted ballots were cast, it's impossible to know just how many votes are left up for grabs in each race. The county plans to release more results on Friday, but the final tally won't be known until next week at the earliest.
Fifth District County Supervisor John Flynn's chances of re-election grow slimmer with every new batch of results. He gained no ground in the most recent count and now trails challenger John Zaragoza by a margin of 53.6 percent to 45.8 percent.
It is still mathematically possible for Flynn to overtake Zaragoza, but he would need close to 80 percent of the remaining votes, if the proportion of uncounted votes in the 5th District is the same as it is countywide.
Oxnard City Council
Wednesday's results were good news for Bryan MacDonald, a candidate for Oxnard City Council. He now has a 130-vote lead over Carmen Ramirez for the second of two open council seats, out of 61,320 cast. That's up from a lead of just 15 votes on Monday.
Irene Pinkard is in first place and appears to have locked up the other open council seat.
Measure U
The Camarillo school unification measure, Measure U, gained a little ground but still appears likely to lose. The yes vote stands at 49.3 percent and the no vote at 50.7 — a margin of 1,038 votes. The remaining votes would have to fall strongly in the yes camp for the measure to pass.
Posted by theoptimisticone on November 12, 2008 at 7:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's hope Bryan McDonald takes the other seat! Fingers crossed!
Posted by rmartin on November 12, 2008 at 8:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Down with idiots who think only Democrats raise taxes! Ask Arnold. Even he'll tell you so.
GO HBJ!
Just Say No to Big Tobacco Tony! Just another politician that Corporations will have in their back pocket!
Posted by BillyBob on November 12, 2008 at 9:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The voting is over. You can quit slamming the candidates now. Won't make any difference to this election.
Posted by BillyBob on November 12, 2008 at 9:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Scapegoat - just say no to Faux News!!
Posted by seawink on November 12, 2008 at 10:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
just say no to scapegoat
Posted by Drew on November 12, 2008 at 10:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If Strickland wins, I wonder if he'll be man enough to represent his constituents with some degree of Integrity-unlike his campaign which consisted of littering mailboxes with propaganda and hiding behind his wife's skirt as she recorded ILLEGAL robo calls for him. Pathetic.
Posted by ox4me on November 12, 2008 at 11:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Whew thats close !! C'mon Bryan Mac Donald, youre by far the best choice.
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