Staff Writer
In Signal Hill’s municipal election on Tuesday, March 3 that drew an extraordinarily low voter turnout, incumbents Larry Forester and Tina Hansen were re-elected to the City Council, defeating challenger Tom Benson, according to unofficial election results.
While some votes still have yet to be counted, Hansen, who has been on the Council for five terms, has so farreceived 469 votes, the most out of the three candidates, according to the unofficial results that were released at the Council Chamber nearly an hour and a half after polls were closed at 8pm.
Forester, who has served four Council terms, has so far netted 397 votes, defeating Benson, a local business owner and chair of the Signal Hill Planning Commission, by 76 votes.
Robert Copeland ran unopposed for city clerk, taking 586 votes, while Larry Blunden ran unopposed for city treasurer, earning 581 votes. Copeland and Blunden were appointed to the positions on an interim basis last year after former city clerk Kathleen Pacheco and former city treasurer Emerson Fersch both resigned since they moved to other cities.
The vote count, however, doesn’t take into account provisional ballots and absentee ballots that were postmarked the day of the election. Also, all ballots are sent to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters’ office for signature verification.
Signal Hill Administrative Assistant Kim Boles said the City is able to receive ballots through Friday, March 6. She said the City would conduct a final vote count at 9am on Monday, March 9. A manual tally of votes for at least one precinct will be conducted on Wednesday, March 11. The final vote count will go to the City Council for approval on March 17.
In an interview with the Signal Tribune outside the Council Chamber on election night, Benson, who has owned an auto-customization shop in Signal Hill for 17 years, said that, even though he was defeated, being able to talk to people in the community to get a feel for their concerns was an accomplishment.
“It was a good run,” said Benson, a 25-year Signal Hill resident. “There was a great deal of support that I didn’t know would be there.”
This election, all three candidates agreed to not post campaign signs on commercial properties or in front of homes for “environmental” reasons, he said. However, Benson said he wouldn’t do it again, adding that the lack of campaign signs likely contributed to the low voter turnout and the candidates “probably missed that part of it.”
Though more votes are to be counted , at press time, 734 ballots had been cast from four voting precincts, meaning, so far, just 11.4 percent of the 6,395 registered voters in the city cast ballots. A total of 445 ballots were vote-by-mail while 289 ballots were cast at the polls.
Councilmember Michael Noll, who was present during the vote count, said the election drew the lowest voter turnout in the more than 20 years that he’s been on the Council.
The voter turnout this year was lower than, at least, the last two elections. According to city records, there was a 21.29-percent voter turnout in the 2013 general municipal election, and there was a 17.67-percent voter turnout during the 2011 election.
At a victory party at Big E Pizza in Signal Hill, Forester expressed contentment that he will serve another four years on the Council.
“I’m happy to be able to continue the things I started,” Forester said, adding that there is still work to be done on issues related to water, building a new library, expanding Cherry Avenue and replacing redevelopment funding.
Hansen, who has worked as a prosecutor for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office for 30 years, expressed gratitude about being elected a sixth time.
“It’s just gratifying to know that the residents think I’ve done a good job and they’re still willing to re-elect me,” she said. “It wasn’t the most hotly contested election, but, still, people can decide that they don’t like what you’re doing and vote you out. So, I’m very gratified.” ß
