Ferrara now chasing write-in Hill

November 7, 2014

AG racerBy DANIEL BLACKBURN

At the tail end of a race he never expected to run, Arroyo Grande Mayor Tony Ferrara will spend the weekend mulling vote totals announced by county voting officials Friday afternoon showing a write-in candidate leading him by 43 votes.

At day’s end, Ferrara still could not crack 50 percent of the votes cast — his unofficial total was 2,896, or 49.63 percent, against those for “write-in,” 2,939, or 50.37 percent.

Most of those write-in votes will likely go to Jim Hill, whose last-minute entry into the campaign to unseat Ferrara gained momentum rapidly and whose success so far has astounded even the most jaded political observers.

In Arroyo Grande, 387 ballots remain to be counted. Those include 164 vote-by-mail ballots; 184 provisional ballots; and 115 election night non-processed ballots.

At present, the counted “write-in” votes incorporate all names written on the ballot, and may or may not be Hill’s. A ballot-by-ballot examination will be conducted by county clerk-recorder officials.

Then, if a recount is needed, additional ballots — those which did not have a blackened oval next to a write-in’s name– would then be tallied. There are about 900 of those, officials said.

Official results might not be final until Wednesday, and if a recount becomes necessary, this race might not be determined until near Thanksgiving.

Ferrara is the newly-elected president of the League of California Cities, a position now jeopardized by Hill’s unexpectedly strong challenge.

 


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There’s an unofficial write-in vote tally posted now (Monday afternoon). It says Hill got 3090 of the write-in votes, which is more votes than Ferrara got (2995)


That is great news!


I wonder what is involved in arriving at the official results…


The AG City just (Fri afternoon) posted the notice of the Special Meeting to be held on Wed, Nov 19 @6PM.

Item 6: City Council Closed Session

Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release pursuant to ….City Manager.

Item 7: Reconvene to Open Session

Announcement of any reportable action if any.

Item 8: Presentation by Sintra Group Regarding Investigation of July 3rd incident at City Hall


This should be interesting, may need to bring a chair.


It is highly unusual for them to conduct their private business in closed session before they’ve finished with the public business. What they plan for Wednesday is exactly opposite of the transparency they promised and pretty much dismissive of the public interest. This agenda should be structured like virtually every other agenda with the closed session at the end.


Perhaps they hope, if they hold the closed session first, it will convince the voters who voted for Jim Hill to leave after the report of reportable action.


It is, however, “usual” for a city council to reconvene after a closed session to offer whatever information they absolutely have to about the outcome of the closed-session meeting.


I see trees of green, Jim as Mayor, too,

I see him lead, for me and you

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world.


I see skies of blue, and clouds of white,

The bright blessed day, no city hall at night

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world.


The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky,

Are also on the faces of people seeing Tony say good-bye

I see his friends shaking hands, sayin’, “What will do you do?”

They’re really sayin’, “We never liked you.”


I hear babies cheering’. I watch them grow.

They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world


Yes, I think to myself

What a wonderful world


I hate to say it, but thank you Steve Adams for making this all happen.


Dont forget to thank his bed buddy!


She is laying low here in Morro Bay. Such a sorry ass joke!


Yowzer!


Missed you at the party tonight Pelican

Next time.


Or Dana McClish…


I almost hate to see it end. This is the most interesting election since Florida’s hanging chads. Of course, in Arroyo Grande the only hanging chad was at City Hall that night.


This should all be finished Monday. The clerk said it will take 3-8 hours to tally the write-in votes.


If nothing else, it’s provided great comedic material.


It has also kept most of us out of cheap bars…well, maybe.


Although we did work hard, gotta admit, I have never laughed so much.

Every time Big Tony opened his mouth, he handed us voters.


These comment blogs have at times been directive, collaborative, and thoughtful; but the hilarious comic relief cannot be found anywhere locally.


Pelican your tunes kill me each time

Almost as much as Tony’s doo.


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