November 03, 2005

"Judge upholds Felton water vote"

"A Superior Court judge has upheld the July 26 special election on Felton's waterworks, a decision that had Measure W supporters smiling.

Measure W, which let Felton residents decide on an $11 million bond to buy the waterworks from California American, passed with 74 percent of the 1,615 votes in favor.

Felton resident Patrick Dugan, who opposed the measure, challenged the county's election process. He claimed it was improper that people who don't get water from Cal Am were allowed to vote. He further claimed 147 people voted illegally.

Judge Robert Yonts rejected Dugan's claims in his ruling Tuesday.

"The county drew the boundaries of the district properly," said attorney Miriam Stombler, who represented the county. "All registered voters in the district were allowed to vote."

A check of the 147 disputed names found that even though their mailing addresses were outside the voting district, they did in fact live within the district. Of that total, only 49 actually cast ballots, not enough to change the outcome because of the 140-vote margin of victory."

You can read the complete story here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at November 3, 2005 06:01 PM