Baca victorious in final ballot count
By David Wert
The Press-Enterprise
SAN BERNARDINO
Published 9/25/1999
Marta Macias Brown's quest to succeed her late husband in Congress came to a quiet end Friday after San Bernardino County election officials counted the final ballots from Tuesday's special election, confirming state Sen. Joe Baca's narrow victory.
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...as seen in 'Bonds of Our Union'.... |
As the leading Democratic vote-getter, Baca will face leading Republican Elia Pirozzi, Libertarian John Ballard and Reform Party member Rick Simon in a Nov. 16 runoff election to complete Rep. George E. Brown Jr.'s California-record 18th House term. Brown, 79, died July 15 following heart surgery.
"This was a big load off my shoulders," Baca, D-Rialto, said Friday. "I look forward now to unifying the party, working for the Inland Empire and dealing with issues important to all of us." Macias Brown was not available for comment. But in a prepared statement she thanked her supporters and said she would support efforts to keep the 42nd Congressional District in Democratic hands -- stopping short of explicitly endorsing Baca.
She also said she has had conversations about her political future with Democratic officials. "I will examine all possibilities," she said in her statement.
Those options include running for Baca's Senate seat in a possible January special election should Baca be elected to Congress in November, or running again for her late husband's congressional seat next year.
"I don't think she's closing any doors right now," said Macias Brown campaign manager Bobi Johnson. Johnson said she had heard talk in the community about Macias Brown running for the Senate, but had not heard anyone discussing a 2000 congressional bid.
Johnson said Macias Brown will not contest Tuesday's election results, but does not plan to attend a Democratic unity rally the party plans to organize next week. Macias Brown will be in Washington, D.C., next week attending a salute to her late husband by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.
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"In a matter of a few short weeks, under the most trying of personal circumstances, a committed band of citizens came together to fight for a tradition of service, of excellence, of caring established by my husband," Macias Brown said in her statement. "I am . . . proud that we were able to come so close in an election where the odds, and so much else, often seemed stacked against us."
Macias Brown did not have enough votes among the 1,323 provisional and late absentee ballots counted Friday to surpass the 488-vote lead Baca established in Tuesday's count. In fact, Baca's lead increased by 30 votes to 518.
Election officials had 1,750 ballots Tuesday that could not be immediately counted. About 80 percent of them were absentee ballots handed in at polling places or the Registrar of Voter's office on Election Day. Election officials spent the past three days verifying signatures.
The rest were provisional ballots cast by people who claimed they were eligible to vote but for some reason weren't on the voters rolls or had been recorded as having already voted absentee. Election officials had to verify their eligibility before counting their ballots on Friday.
Among those whose votes were not counted were three people who had registered too late to vote in Tuesday's election, nine whose signatures did not match the signature on their registration cards, some people who were not registered at all, and those who said they had not voted absentee but actually had, said Registrar of Voters Ingrid Gonzales.
Election officials will report those four voters who voted twice to the District Attorney's office. But Gonzales said she would be surprised if any of them intended to break the law and will face prosecution. She said there are always a few voters who vote absentee and then show up at the polls "just to make sure their vote is counted."
