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Augie Aguilar, far right, gets initial handling instructions from Melinda Greene as the first boxes of ballots come in to the Elections office for tallying, June 8, 2010.

Paul Wellman

Augie Aguilar, far right, gets initial handling instructions from Melinda Greene as the first boxes of ballots come in to the Elections office for tallying, June 8, 2010.

2010 Election Results Are In

Votes for June Races Continue to Be Tallied

Originally published 8:30 p.m., June 8, 2010
Updated 10:59 a.m., June 9, 2010
By Tyler Hayden (Contact)

Santa Barbara County Elections

District Attorney:

Joyce Dudley — 31,811 votes (54.11 percent)

Joshua Lynn — 26,791 votes (45.57 percent)

2nd District Supervisor, Santa Barbara County:

Janet Wolf — 9,593 votes (52.83 percent)

Dan Secord — 8,538 votes (47.02 percent)

Measure J, City of Carpinteria:

No — 2,209 votes (70.06 percent)

Yes — 944 votes (29.94 percent)

County Treasurer-Tax Collector:

Harry Hagen — 30,570 votes (58.35 percent)

Michael Cheng — 8,369 votes (15.98 percent)

Gregory Gandrud — 8,053 votes (15.37 percent)

Polly Holcombe — 5,207 votes (9.94 percent)

District and Statewide Contests

Governor, Democratic Party Nomination:

(top two)

Jerry Brown — 1,478,752 votes (84.1 percent)

Richard Aguirre — 71,493 votes (4.1 percent)

Governor, Republican Party Nomination:

(top two)

Meg Whitman — 1,101,528 votes (64.2 percent)

Steve Poizner — 461,823 votes (26.9 percent)

35th State Assembly District Democratic Party Nomination:

Das Williams — 18,502 votes (61.4 percent)

Susan Jordan — 11,635 votes (38.6 percent)

23rd Congressional District Republican Party Nomination:

Tom Watson — 11,554 votes (35.9 percent)

John Davidson — 7,342 votes (22.8 percent)

Dave Stockdale — 5,418 votes (16.8 percent)

Clark Vandeventer — 5,076 votes (15.7 percent)

Carol Lee Miller — 2,837 votes (8.8 percent)

24th Congressional District Democratic Party Nomination:

Timothy Allison — 15,530 votes (47.5 percent)

Marie Panec — 9,693 votes (29.7 percent)

Shawn Stern — 7,486 votes (22.8 percent)

Statewide Ballot Initiatives

Prop. 13 — Property Tax Exemption on Seismic Retrofits:

Yes — 3,200,194 votes (84.5 percent)

No — 588,582 votes (15.5 percent)

Prop. 14 — Top Two Vote-Getters ‘Open’ Primary:

Yes — 2,077,100 votes (54.2 percent)

No — 1,761,410 votes (45.8 percent)

Prop. 15 — Allows Public Financing for Candidates, Secretary of State:

Yes — 1,593,698 votes (42.5 percent)

No — 2,147,745 votes (57.5 percent)

Prop. 16 — Two-thirds Vote Requirement for Local Providers:

Yes — 1,830,278 votes (47.5 percent)

No — 2,015,297 votes (52.5 percent)

Prop. 17 — Auto Insurance Continuous Policy Driver Rate Change:

Yes — 1,848,768 votes (47.9 percent)

No — 2,004,410 votes (52.1 percent)

Local Measures

Measure K — Maintain Santa Barbara County Bed Tax:

Yes — 41,175 votes (71.23 percent)

No — 16,629 votes (28.77 percent)

Measure L — Hope School District Bond Extension:

Yes — 2,454 votes (67.45 percent)

No — 1,184 votes (32.55 percent)

Anti-Measure J crowd, including (pictured L to R) Dick Weinberg, Ted Rhodes, and Donna Jordan celebrate at Cabo's Baja Grill and Cantina in Carpinteria, June 8, 2010
Click to enlarge photo

Paul Wellman

Anti-Measure J crowd, including (pictured L to R) Dick Weinberg, Ted Rhodes, and Donna Jordan celebrate at Cabo’s Baja Grill and Cantina in Carpinteria, June 8, 2010

[UPDATE, 1:05 a.m.] As of early Wednesday morning, it seems all but certain that Santa Barbara’s next District Attorney will be Joyce Dudley. She’s currently leading her opponent Josh Lynn by more than 5,000 votes — 31,811 to 26,791. As more than 33 percent of all ballots have been cast — and the county’s registrar of voters is keeping his fingers crossed that there will be at least a 40 percent turnout — it’s unlikely that Lynn will be able to make up that much ground.

The Indy‘s Chris Meagher reported, though, that Lynn was not in the least downtrodden by the reality that the DA’s race will likely go to his opponent. “I feel great,” he said. “This was never about me, it was about what I thought the vision of the office should be.” Meagher noted that Lynn deflected the question of whether he would remain in the office if and when Dudley takes charge. “The office is way bigger than myself or Joyce,” he said. When Meagher pointed out that the turnout at Harry’s was impressive, Lynn reportedly responded, “for the party, anyway,” sarcastically referencing his low election numbers.

Earlier in the evening, a happy, boisterous crowd of supporters packed into Pascucci on State Street to cheer on Dudley. Arriving late — she had reportedly been watching initial results at home with family — Dudley was hesitant to begin her victory speech without first hearing from Lynn who she thought might call and concede defeat. In attendance were Sheriff Bill Brown, Mayor Helene Schneider, and a number of other elected officials.

At the Boathouse restaurant near Hendry’s Beach, Janet Wolf — who has pulled ahead of Secord, 9,593 votes to 8,538 — said she was feeling good, and that the votes seemed to be trending in the right direction. Keeping company with supervisors Doreen Farr and Salud Carbajal, Wolf said of Secord: “He ran a strong campaign with a lot of money behind him.” But, she noted, “The people looked at what he was proposing and looked at my record — and that’s how they voted.”

[UPDATE, 11:58 p.m.:] Barring any dramatic, unforeseen developments, it appears that the Democratic candidate in the state’s 23rd Congressional District election will be Das Williams. Just before midnight on Tuesday, he led Susan Jordan by 16,928 votes to her 10,505.

At his victory party at SOhO Restaurant and Music Club in downtown Santa Barbara — which was attended by upward of 100 rowdy, excited people — Williams spoke to Indy reporter Matt Kettmann. “[It’s] an incredible thing to have people know me enough that they don’t believe the negative attack ads,” he said, in reference to the increasingly defacing mailers sent out by his challenger, Susan Jordan, which lambasted him for supporting PXP’s proposed drilling project off the coast of Lompoc. “We had to play a little defense,” said Williams (as he alluded to his own ads that were widely regarded as similarly negative), “but we stayed focused on the issues.

Before his speech to the crowd, said Kettmann, Williams was thankful for the widespread support he received in Santa Barbara and beyond. “This really has a lot to do with people being focused on the most important issues, not secondary issues,” he said. “They concentrated on real issues like public education and getting jobs to the middle class.” Selma Rubin, the longtime matriarch of local grassroots environmentalism, was tickled pink that Williams — who she reportedly called one night and essentially convinced to run — would be representing the liberals come November.

“I’m very excited,” she said. “Das ran a very good campaign — it was positive all the way through,” noting that his ads in answer to Jordan’s were fair. “He had to fight back. We couldn’t let him not fight back.” Rubin relayed to Kettmann that she feels Williams will be a great advocate for the liberal-minded Santa Barbara and Ventura communities, stating, “It’s so nice to be on the right side.” She also expressed optimism that Williams will take meetings with her once he’s up in Sacramento, something that Pedro Nava and Tony Strickland, she said, wouldn’t do.

Taking the stage toward the end of the evening, Williams — with more than a dash of Obama-esque rhetoric — told the crowd that he was enormously humbled at the opportunity to represent the Democratic party in the 35th District race. “This is symbolic of what happens when people work together to create change,” he said to the crowd, some of whom were wearing “Dasome” T-shirts. Personally thanking Rubin — whose support, he said, made all the difference — Williams went on to say how pleased he was that his campaign brought divergent sections of the Democratic party together for a single cause, stating, “It’s all of you working together that creates change … This is going to be a unified Democratic party,” he promised.

Lastly, Williams was gracious in reaching out to Jordan, who he said, “fought on the right side of important issues. We need to recognize that,” he went on. “We need to thank her for her work and reach out to her supporters.” Telling the crowd that they should let loose on the night of celebration, Williams also reminded everyone that much effort lies ahead. “There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done,” he said. The audience, at the end of the address, starting chanting, “Das, Das, Das … ” as everyone stamped their feet in unison.

[UPDATE, 11:30 p.m.]: When, a couple of hours ago, it appeared that Dan Secord was within striking distance of unseating 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf, spirits were high at the harbor’s Endless Summer Bar Café. The race was so close at that point, noted Independent reporter Nick Welsh, that the ever-changing polling numbers mirrored the ping-ponging score of the Lakers game that was being broadcast on the patio’s TV.

Secord, constantly checking his Blackberry while around 40-50 friends and family generally kept their attention locked on the game, appeared positive, said Welsh. But, Secord conceded, votes could be trickling in for days — and thousands of absentee ballots have yet to be tallied — so he wouldn’t speculate on his chances quite yet. He lamented the fact that people, for the most part, filled out and sent in their ballots before the election really revved up, and before he was able to really hammer on his opponent.

More recently at the restaurant, reported Ethan Stewart — as the gap between Wolf and Secord widened (8,389 for Wolf and 7,549 for Secord) — Secord’s support team began to thin out not long after the provided food was gobbled up. It was discovered later on in the evening that the patio TV which had been broadcasting the Lakers game (and which was planned on being used to watch election results) didn’t get county channels since the restaurant subscribes only to Direct TV’s sports packages. Secord soon jumped on a laptop to check the latest news. A few bar patrons, The Indy‘s Stewart reported, cheered loudly in the patio’s direction when Wolf’s increasing lead was announced.

Meanwhile, after leaving the Endless Summer Café and heading to the Nugget Restaurant in Summerland, Welsh reported on Tom Watson’s camp. Watson, who’s vying for the Republican nomination in the race for 23rd Congressional District (and who is so far leading the four-person pack at 7,975 votes) admitted to Welsh that he feels the district — long held by Lois Capps — will be tough for any conservative to win. Amidst the group of 40-50 Republicans, Welsh said, one of the supporters praised Watson for being a “bright spot of the Republican Party.”

[UPDATE, 10:22 p.m.]:Matt Kettmann reported earlier that, amidst the cheers and shouts directed at the Lakers game on the TV at Harry’s Plaza Cafe, DA candidate Josh Lynn and his supporters waited anxiously for the first round of numbers to come in. Because the channel kept getting flipped between the game and the elections channel, and because most people didn’t seem to be paying any mind to the forthcoming announcements, Lynn took to checking his iPhone.

After learning that he trailed rival Joyce Dudley by more than 3,000 votes so far, Lynn expressed a bit of worry, reportedly saying that he thought the early results were from absentee ballots — which tend to come from conservative voters — and that the first round of numbers “could be a bad sign.” While more and more people gathered around iPhones and iPads, Kettmann noted, Lynn started conducting TV interviews right away. While a number of deputy district attorneys and DA’s Office employees milled about the relatively crowded restaurant, Kettmann said, a few recollected past elections. “Remember when we used to have to wait until midnight for the results?” someone said to former Sheriff Jim Thomas who was also in attendance.

Later in the evening, reported Chris Meagher, those at Harry’s were in high spirits as more people began to show up in support of Lynn.

[UPDATE, 9:36 p.m.]: Indy reporter Chris Meagher called in from “Election Central” — this year located at the county’s Goleta campus off of Calle Real — earlier this evening. He said things were quiet just minutes before voting results were announced at 8 p.m., and he was initially kept company only by a News-Press radio reporter and a woman controlling the door.

Not long after that, though, Meagher said that 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf showed up with her family. Accompanying them was Wolf’s assistant Mary O’Gorman and campaign consultant Mary Rose. As the numbers stand now, Wolf has received just under 300 more votes than her challenger, Dr. Dan Secord.

Also at headquarters was former Assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson, Mayor Helene Schneider, Assemblymember Pedro Nava and his wife, Susan Jordan, (who’s running for the seat he will soon vacate), MarBorg’s Mario Borgatello, and campaign consultant Jeremy Lindaman. Prior to the results being announced, Susan Jordan said she was “feeling pretty good,” reported Meagher. “We handled ourselves with integrity and honesty,” she said. “Now it’s certainly up to the voters.” Jordan, said Meagher, seemed rather confident and calm, as did Nava, who casually walked about the room.

Because the election channel on the provided TV was too slow for peoples’ tastes in broadcasting the results, hard-copy packets of polling numbers were passed around, Meagher said. As everyone quietly flipped through their papers, Rose turned to Wolf, saying, “This is the more conservative end of the votes,” referencing the fact there are still many absentee ballots that have yet to be counted, and assuring her client that her slim lead may widen in the days to come. Wolf, Meagher reported, said, “it’s always better to be ahead, but we need to see more returns.” When the first return came back in 2006, Wolf trailed her rivals.

Meagher — speaking with Joe Holland, the county’s registrar of voters — reported that the first batch of ballots from precincts didn’t arrive to election headquarter until around 8:45 p.m., and that they will continue to trickle in through the night. Some ballots, said Holland, can take a while to arrive as they have to travel from Santa Maria and Lompoc.

He also noted that, when all is said and done, 20,000 ballots will have been cast at the polling stations, and that around 10,000 vote-by-mail ballots will be dropped off in the next few days. “For the races that aren’t close,” Holland said, “it’s going to be an uphill battle.” Meagher quoted Holland as saying that he hopes to see a 40 percent voter turnout in Santa Barbra County.

Amidst all the action, Schneider told Meagher that while things are looking good, in her opinion, she’s happy she’s not running this time around.

As TVs in Santa Barbara bars and restaurants are switched from the Lakers’ game to the election results station, candidates are beginning their nights of loud celebration or quiet disappointment. They’re scattered about the coast — from Susan Jordan in Ventura to Das Williams in downtown Santa Barbara — but our reporters out in the field will be bringing you coverage late into the evening.

Here, though, are the straight numbers that were announced just a few minutes ago, and be sure to check back in for constant updates and additional results.

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