Absentee Voters Give Andersen a Narrow Victory : Hawthorne: A complete ballot count leaves Ginny Lambert 34 votes short in the race for mayor. The election results won’t be certified until Nov. 25.

After two weeks of political nail-biting, Hawthorne’s contentious race for mayor has ended in a stunning reversal with Councilman Steve Andersen emerging the victor--by 34 votes--against rival Councilwoman Ginny Lambert, according to unofficial final election results.

Lambert, whose campaign was plagued by last-minute allegations she violated open meeting laws and threatened a city official investigating the matter, was leading Andersen by eight votes when the polls closed Nov. 5.

But the election began to turn in Andersen’s favor as soon as officials with the county registrar-recorder’s office began tallying uncounted absentee ballots early last week. In his campaign for mayor, Andersen made a special effort to target residents registered to vote by absentee ballot.

Although county officials are still going over their rosters and will not certify the election until Nov. 25, all of the outstanding ballots have been counted, registrar-recorder spokeswoman Marcia Ventura said late Friday. According to their final tallies, she said, Andersen had 2,456 votes to Lambert’s 2,422. The tally left Andersen with 50.3% of the vote and Lambert with 49.7%.

In an interview Friday evening, Andersen, who has been a council member since 1983, said he has never been in such a close race and was very happy to learn of the final results. He also said he was sobered by the narrow margin that made him mayor.

“I’m going to continue doing the things I said I was going to do,” Andersen said. But, he added, “of course I will pay attention to the large number of votes” Lambert received and will give “serious consideration to the points” raised by her campaign.

Lambert said Saturday she has not yet decided whether she will ask for a recount. “We haven’t really figured that out yet,” she said.

Less than three weeks before the election, Lambert was accused of secretly lobbying the Planning Commission to postpone a vote on a controversial 94-unit condominium project in July. The allegation was leveled at a council meeting by Councilman David M. York, one of Andersen’s allies and supporters.

Later, City Atty. Michael Adamson, investigating the matter at York’s request, accused Lambert of violating state laws by threatening him with a lawsuit and the loss of his job unless he halted his inquiry. Adamson has asked the county district attorney’s office to consider filing charges against Lambert.

Lambert, who called the allegations dirty politics aimed to undermine her candidacy, has denied both allegations. She has asked the district attorney and the California State Bar to determine whether Adamson’s investigation constitutes a conflict of interest since the city attorney represents the entire council.

The district attorney is investigating both sets of charges.

The additional absentee ballots did not affect the six-way race for the two seats on the City Council that Lambert and Andersen will vacate in December. The winners in those races are current Mayor Betty Ainsworth, who received 2,438 votes, and political newcomer Larry Guidi, who received 1,953. The nearest runner-up was Martha Bails, who received 1,819 votes.