Mocking democracy: San Diego Mayoral Race Results Certified

[Rose Siding]

There is no case that more clearly illustrates disregard for voter intent...

SAN DIEGO - The City Council certified the results of a hotly contested mayoral election on Wednesday, and Mayor Dick Murphy was sworn in for a second term.

The council voted 6-1 to accept the county registrar's results from the Nov. 2 election that showed Murphy, a Republican, leading write-in candidate and Democratic Councilwoman Donna Frye by 2,108 votes.
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It was unclear, however, whether the dispute was over. The certified tally....excluded ballots on which voters wrote Frye's name but failed to darken the adjoining oval.

Frye estimates those ballots total up to 5,000. She said she would make a decision in the next few days about a possible legal challenge to the election results.

"I am not conceding anything and I cannot in good conscience vote to certify an election where all of the votes cast were not counted," Frye said.

The county registrar said state election law prohibited her from counting the empty-oval ballots, a position upheld last month by a Superior Court judge.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041209/ap_on_el_st_lo/san_diego_mayor