Pomona : Vote Deadline Upheld

A divided City Council this week refused to bend the rules that require people who vote absentee to submit ballots to the city clerk by 5 p.m. the day before city elections.

Councilman Tomas Ursua, whose campaign strategy in his bid to unseat Mayor Donna Smith includes the use of absentee ballots, sought to repeal a 1985 city ordinance that will require voters in the April 16 election to submit absentee ballots by 5 p.m. April 15. Ursua said the city deadline is confusing because the state Elections Code allows absentee ballots to be cast until the close of the polls on election day in state elections.

But Smith and Councilman Boyd Bredenkamp said the city election deadline is widely known and can be met by those casting absentee ballots. With Councilwoman Nell Soto absent, the vote was split, with only Councilman Mark A. T. Nymeyer joining Ursua.