A runoff remains a possibility in the Seal Beach District 1 City Council race.
As of 5 p.m., Monday, Nov. 15, District 1 candidate Ellery Deaton had received 49.6 percent of the votes counted by the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
To win the seat, she must receive 50 percent plus one.
If she does not receive enough votes by the end of the month, Deaton will face second place candidate Joe Kalmick in a runoff.
According to City Manager David Carmany, a runoff would cost Seal Beach approximately $25,000.
“It will be a General Fund expenditure,” Carmany told the Sun. So far, Deaton has received 978 votes. Kalmick has received 655. The other District 1 candidates, Scott Levitt and Robert Aguilar have received 204 and 136 votes respectively.
In all, the county has counted 1,973 votes in the District 1 race, not quite half the number of registered voters in the district. As of June, there were 4,122 registered voters in District 1.
In District 5, Councilman Michael Levitt appears to have the required votes to win re-election. As of Nov. 15, Levitt had reportedly received 53 percent of the votes counted in the Leisure World race. Anne Seifert has received 47 percent of the votes counted. However, Seal Beach officials are not calling the results of the Leisure World race until the county has certified the election.
At present, Levitt has 1,297 votes to Seifert’s 1,148. That’s a difference of 149 votes.
The District 3 race appears to be settled. Gordon Shanks has received 70.1 percent of the votes cast in his district, well over the 50 percent plus one requirement.
The Orange County Registrar’s Office still has an estimated 8,625 votes left to count. It is not known how many of those votes were cast by Seal Beach residents.
The Registrar’s Office has until the end of the month to certify the election results.
