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Write-In Candidate Holds Slight Lead For Mayor
A write-in candidate turned in a strong showing in the San Diego mayor's race, but voters won't know for sure who won right away.
With 100 percent of precincts counted, the write-in candidate had 35 percent. The vast majority of those votes were expected to be cast for Councilwoman Donna Frye, a surf-shop owner who launched her write-in bid only five weeks before the election.
Election officials will resume manual counting of write-in votes in the mayor's race later Wednesday, county spokeswoman Lesley Kirk said. There are approximately 130,000 Absentee/Provisional ballots still to be counted, according to officials.
Dick Murphy, the incumbent, trails by only a few thousand votes, with 34 percent. Ron Roberts, a San Diego County supervisor who is making his third bid for mayor, had 30 percent.
"We're trending upwards!" Frye told a jubilant crowd of supporters Tuesday night.
She also thanked them repeatedly.
"They said we finally have someone to vote for," Frye said. "Every one of you dedicated yourselves and said it was time for a change. We need open government. We need an elected official who will tell us the truth."
It may take until Nov. 30 to declare a winner if the race is tight, said Sally McPherson, San Diego County's registrar of voters. The inauguration is Dec. 6.
The race was shaping up as a drab rematch of the 2000 contest between Murphy and Roberts until Frye, a surf-shop owner often on the losing side of lopsided City Council votes, jumped in.
A deepening scandal surrounding the city's underfunded pension plan has dominated, at times, almost overshadowed, the campaign. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) and Justice Department (news - web sites) are investigating San Diego's financial practices amid questions over whether bad news was hidden from investors and taxpayers.
Frye, 52, was the lone dissenter in a 2002 council vote to enhance retirement benefits -- one that Murphy said he regretted.
The race was nonpartisan, though Murphy and Roberts are Republican. Frye is a Democrat.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=402&e=3&u=/ibsys/20041103/lo_kgtv/2437636
A write-in candidate turned in a strong showing in the San Diego mayor's race, but voters won't know for sure who won right away.
With 100 percent of precincts counted, the write-in candidate had 35 percent. The vast majority of those votes were expected to be cast for Councilwoman Donna Frye, a surf-shop owner who launched her write-in bid only five weeks before the election.
Election officials will resume manual counting of write-in votes in the mayor's race later Wednesday, county spokeswoman Lesley Kirk said. There are approximately 130,000 Absentee/Provisional ballots still to be counted, according to officials.
Dick Murphy, the incumbent, trails by only a few thousand votes, with 34 percent. Ron Roberts, a San Diego County supervisor who is making his third bid for mayor, had 30 percent.
"We're trending upwards!" Frye told a jubilant crowd of supporters Tuesday night.
She also thanked them repeatedly.
"They said we finally have someone to vote for," Frye said. "Every one of you dedicated yourselves and said it was time for a change. We need open government. We need an elected official who will tell us the truth."
It may take until Nov. 30 to declare a winner if the race is tight, said Sally McPherson, San Diego County's registrar of voters. The inauguration is Dec. 6.
The race was shaping up as a drab rematch of the 2000 contest between Murphy and Roberts until Frye, a surf-shop owner often on the losing side of lopsided City Council votes, jumped in.
A deepening scandal surrounding the city's underfunded pension plan has dominated, at times, almost overshadowed, the campaign. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) and Justice Department (news - web sites) are investigating San Diego's financial practices amid questions over whether bad news was hidden from investors and taxpayers.
Frye, 52, was the lone dissenter in a 2002 council vote to enhance retirement benefits -- one that Murphy said he regretted.
The race was nonpartisan, though Murphy and Roberts are Republican. Frye is a Democrat.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=402&e=3&u=/ibsys/20041103/lo_kgtv/2437636