Somerton candidate race remains in limbo; Wellton council vote will be recounted

The city of Somerton will continue to set its own annual spending limits, under a ballot measure approved Tuesday by voters.

There are about 170 votes still to be tallied in the city's general election, according to Yuma County election officials, but the margin of yes votes for Proposition 1 was too wide to be changed by the outstanding ballots.

But the outcome of races for three Somerton council seats remains in limbo pending a tally Thursday or Friday of the mail-in votes and provisional, or questioned, ballots.

The election in Somerton was one of three in Yuma County on Tuesday.

In Wellton, Alejandro Bejarano appears to have won the race for a town council seat, although state law requires a recount since unofficial returns show his margin of victory over Scott Finfrock was 10 votes. And in Yuma, voters supported renewing the 2 percent hospitality tax by a nearly 2 to 1 margin.

Proposition 1, also known as a home rule measure, allows Somerton city government to set its own spending limits instead of having the limit determined by the state based on a population formula.

Backers of the measure said the state limit would have frozen several million dollars that the city would otherwise use for public services. Since the 1970s, Somerton has returned to voters every four years for renewal of home rule.

Political newcomer Gerardo Anaya was the leading vote getter among Somerton council candidates with 288 votes, followed by former Councilman Arturo Magana, who had 231 votes, and Miguel Villalpando, 213 votes, according to incomplete returns released Tuesday night.

Villalpando, currently Somerton's mayor, chose not to seek re-election to that office in favor of running for a council seat. Martin Porchas, who has served as a councilman, was elected in the March primary as the new mayor.

Those three candidates will win council seats if they maintain their leads over the three other candidates, once the outstanding votes are included in totals.

The other candidates were Victor Lozano, 176 votes; incumbent Councilwoman Lois Hollis, 157 votes, and Arturo Vargas, 143 votes.

"I feel very honored," Anaya said of returns showing him leading all candidates. "It's a big responsibility for which the people have chosen me."

He said his goal as a councilman will be to improve the city's customer service to the public. "During my campaign, that was one of the frequent complaints of the people, and we are going to try to identify the problem. And if it's from a lack of training for the employees or because of political changes, as council members we will have to speak with the administration and propose solutions."

Magana said that after he and Anaya received enough primary votes to advance to Tuesday's general, they met to discuss mutual goals. And, he said, "sincerely, we agreed on many of the things we wanted to do if we both got on the council."

Villalpando said the vote returns so far are as he expected. "I believe we have maintained the support and backing of the people; I hope the results stay the same because Gerardo and Arturo are the best candidates."

Of the 170 votes still untallied, 147 were early ballots that were not yet counted Tuesday because they were turned in that day, according to county election officials, who conducted the election under contract with the city. Another 23 were provisional or questionable ballot that needed to be validated before being included in the tally.

Election officials say they expect to have the complete unofficial tally for Somerton voting Thursday or Friday.

Becky Hopkins, Wellton's deputy town clerk, said state law requires a recount anytime the vote margin between two candidates is 10 or less. Hopkins said the town will petition Yuma County Superior Court for an order authorizing the town's election board to unseal the official envelope containing ballots for a recount.

Approval of Proposition 100 in Yuma extends for another 15 years the 2 percent sales tax applied to hotel stays and food and drink sales in the city's bars and restaurants. Revenue from the tax has been used to subsidize the Yuma Civic Center and baseball complex, fund promotion of tourism and help support Yuma Crossing projects and special events.

Preliminary, unofficial results late Tuesday showed 5,844 votes in favor of Proposition 100 and 2,664 votes against it. The tally included more than 7,000 mail-in ballots that had been counted earlier this week.

Remaining to be counted are approximately 601 "late early" mail-in ballots and 77 provisional ballots.

The final vote count will be provided later this week, city of Yuma officials said. Results will become official once canvassed by the Yuma City Council, most likely at its June 3 meeting.

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Sun staff members Joyce Lobeck and John Vaughn and Bajo El Sol writer Cesar Neyoy contributed to this report.