KELSEYVILLE — Challenger Chris Irwin”s nine-vote lead over incumbent Andy Dobusch is narrowed to eight votes, according to a semi-final count from the Registrar of Voters Office. The two candidates contend for third place in the race to fill the last open seat on the Kelseyville Unified School District Board.
Absentee and provisional ballots were verified and added Friday to the count posted on the Lake County Web site, www.co.lake.ca.us. The new numbers bring Irwin”s votes up to 743 and Dobusch”s to 735. Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said final results are still being tallied.
“Nothing is official until we do the actual manual tally,” Fridley said. The ballots are being rechecked by an optical scanner that reads the votes marked by a No. 2 pencil. Using the example of a race in which voters were asked to choose three candidates, Fridley explained that if a ballot comes back with only one vote, the other two unmarked spaces are considered “undervotes.” The optical scanner does not read ink, Fridley said, so a team of four will check the ballots by hand next to ensure that votes cast in ink are counted.
Fridley said her office will start the manual tally Wednesday. “Since the turnout was not large, I”m hoping to have that done in one day,” Fridley said.
In the lead by eight, Irwin said he is not quite ready to celebrate yet. “It”s a compliment that we”re so close, and I”m excited to get this behind us so we can get to work,” Irwin said. “See how just a couple votes can make a difference? People should realize how important every vote is, especially when this is coming down to just a couple of votes between two people, two quality people. At least we”re in the home stretch.”
In spite of the fact that the tally isn”t yet official, Dobusch said he”s ready to move on. “It was quite a ride,” Dobusch said Friday. “I think it”s over. I would imagine I”d need to call and congratulate Chris; even though we disagree on the mascot issue, I think he”ll do a good job. I think I did what was right even though it was not popular. I”m glad it”s over, and I”m not regretful of anything.”
Andy Dobusch”s mother Carol Dobusch said Friday that between herself, her husband and her son, the family taught in Kelseyville schools for more than 60 years. “As a family we”re very disappointed. To have him have to make such a difficult decision as a board member and have such an uncaring backlash has been a shock to us. Probably some of those responsible for those very negative signs have had children in our classes. They know Andy was born and raised in Kelseyville, and changing a mascot that was his as well … that took courage and real insight, and we”re very surprised at the unleashing of so much unkindness. Win, lose or draw, we are very proud.”
According to California Elections Codes, any voter may ask the Registrar of Voters for a recount within five days after the election is certified. Fridley said she has no indication that either Irwin or Dobusch will ask for a recount. Fridley said the chances of the numbers changing in case of a recount are slim, and the person requesting it would have to pay by the hour for the labor she and her staff would put in to do it.
“They give us a blank check to begin with, then at end of each day they pay for the count. In this case I”m confident we could complete process in one day,” Fridley said.
The semi-final update posted Friday shows that 32.2 percent of Kelseyville”s registered voters participated in the Tuesday general district election. That is the third highest turnout for the election, behind 36.5 percent in the Anderson Springs Community Service District race and 36.4 percent in the Clearlake Oaks County Water District race.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
