Judge results tallied

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Unofficial results from a race to unseat an Orange

County judge accused of child molestation show both Costa Mesa candidates

as top vote-getters but leave a slim chance at the bench for only one.

With all precincts counted, preliminary tallies reported this week by

the Orange County registrar of voters place local attorney Gay Sandoval

-- the first to declare a write-in candidacy -- as the third-highest

vote-getter for Superior Court Judge Office No. 21.

Ronald C. Kline, the incumbent now under house arrest in connection

with child molestation and pornography charges, garnered 32.9% of the

votes as the only name printed on the ballot.

Write-in candidate and Dana Point attorney John Adams secured an

overwhelming lead with 33.2% of the votes -- gathering more than all the

other write-in candidates combined.

Sandoval, a former Daily Pilot columnist, followed with 10.8% of the

votes.

Costa Mesa Councilwoman Karen Robinson, who waged a late write-in

campaign to defeat the judge, was fourth with 5.2% -- officially taking

her out of the running for the seat. Nine other write-in candidates

suffered the same fate.

Robinson said she was pleased with the outcome, regardless of the

numbers.

“While I certainly would have loved to have been the first-place

write-in candidate, I am very proud of the campaign that we ran and that

we managed to get over 20,000 people to take the time to take their pens

into the polls and physically write my name in on their ballot as their

choice for judge of the Orange County Superior Court,” Robinson said

Friday.

Ordinarily, the top two vote-getters would compete for the position in

the November election. This race has been anything but ordinary.

Kline is seeking to withdraw from the race and has asked a court to

take his name off the November ballot -- an extremely rare move,

political pundits say.

If Kline’s wish is granted, Sandoval could face Adams in the November

runoff, or Adams could be the lone name on the ballot. If Kline’s request

is denied, Adams would run against him in November.

Sandoval will realize her fate April 9, when a Los Angeles court rules

on Kline’s petition.

Mark Petracca, a political science professor at UC Irvine, said the

race may not entirely hinge on that decision. A legal challenge to the

results could be waged regarding the placement of write-in candidates’

names on a list offered at polling places.

In just one of the strange twists in this judgeship race, a court

ordered that polling places announce the availability of write-in

candidate information -- an unprecedented move. Lists of write-in

candidates have always been available, but few voters know to ask for

them.

It can be argued that votes for Adams were not necessarily votes for

him but the easiest vote against Kline, Petracca said.

People who knew walking in that they would not vote for the

beleaguered Kline could have picked up the readily available list of

challengers and simply wrote in the first name, which was Adams’,

Petracca explained.

As a result, Petracca said it is not surprising Adams garnered most of

the write-in votes.

“It’s also a simple name and happens to be the same as that of a

former U.S. president,” Petracca noted.

Sandoval said she had questioned the order of the names, wondering why

state officials chose to list names alphabetically instead of in a random

order, like regular ballot placement. But she is not planning to

challenge the results.

“I’m not big on filing lawsuits, plus there is not a lot of law in

this area,” Sandoval said. “I don’t know. We’ll just take it one day at a

time.”

Robinson said she too is aware that ballot placements can make a

difference in election results but doubts that carried much weight in

this race. She will not challenge the results.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .

FYI BOX

UNOFFICIAL ELECTION RESULTS

Superior Court Judge Office No. 21

NAME VOTES PERCENTAGE

Ronald Kline 127,636 32.9%

John Adams 128,785 33.2%

Gay Sandoval 41,662 10.8%

Karen Robinson 20,274 5.2%