The February 3 referendum to choose new administrators for Chapala’s five satellite government delegations went smoothly everywhere except in San Antonio Tlayacapan, where a razor thin difference between the top two candidates prompted a controversial ballot recount reminiscent of Florida’s 2000 hanging chad debacle.
The five-member special election commission held a session Wednesday evening to announce the outcome. The politically balanced panel is made up of two city councilors affiliated with the ruling PAN party, two others elected under the PRI banner and one representing the Citizen Movement.
Chief officer Carlos Soto reported good voter turnout, with about 5,500 citizens exercising their suffrage rights, representing an average of 48 percent participation of registered voters in the election.
He then confirmed preliminary results revealed Sunday evening in Ajijic, Atotoniquillo, Santa Cruz de la Soledad and San Nicolas de Ibarra. With that business done, he revealed that the commission would respect a formal request to review election materials collected in San Antonio.
Dispute
The initial tally attributed 275 votes to Rosa Maria Lechuga Milian, putting her just two votes behind rival Miguel Angel Espinoza Corona. However, with 17 ballots qualified as null and void and a few minor glitches detected in the electoral paperwork, the officials deemed there was sufficient margin of error to merit opening the voting urns for a second look at all 870 ballots.
Representatives from both sides were allowed ample time to express pro and con arguments on the decision. Commission members explained their own postures, stressing that the convocation for candidate registration clearly empowered them to resolve disputes and make the final call.
They proceeded to cut the seals on the two San Antonio ballot boxes, examining the contents one at a time.
The first and ultimately critical step was the scrutiny of the null ballots. In most cases the reason for nullification was obvious. For a precious few the commission’s criteria diverged from determinations made by poll workers.
The officials intently studied several dark blots on one ballot. Were they double markings made on purpose or accidental smudges cause by folding the ballot over still wet ink? They performed a test with ballot markers and blank sheets of paper to see if the smudge theory was valid. Other ballots were marked outside the margins of spaces showing candidate names and photos. Perhaps not totally kosher, but voter’s intention seemed to be evident.
Several ballots were shuffled from the out pile to the good stacks.
With that task completed they proceeded to tally the unflawedballots marked in favor of each candidate. Unused ballots were recounted and verified against figures registered on the vote count certificates — a yardstick for detecting after-hours ballot box stuffing.
At the end of the grueling two and a half hour process the election result was reversed, with Lechuga declared the official winner by a single vote.
Protest
Espinoza and his supporters are less than satisfied. They are not only miffed at a narrow victory snatched away in the recount, but also what they view as improper influence of city hall officials during the brief campaign period and sloppy organization of the overall election process.
As this newspaper went to press, Espinoza followers were staging a protest at the steps of city hall. Some were threatening to seize the San Antonio delegation office unless the election commission agrees to honor the original count. Soto firmly stated the final call will stand.
Solid winners
Calm prevails in other localities where the vote count proved indisputable.
Hector España was the clear victor in Ajijic, capturing 588 of the total 1,988 ballots cast. Rafael Escamilla Ramos came in a distant second with 284 votes, closely followed by Jose Luis Gutierrez Nuñez with 273 and Elvira Crespo Vergara with 270. The other eight contenders trailed far behind.
The easy winner in Atotonilquillo was Ernesto Alejandro Gutierrez Maldonado racking up 680 votes out of 1,485 ballots, more than double the 267 cast second place runner Juan Miguel Vazquez Godinez.
Jose Guadalupe Camarena Olmedo took the lead in Santa Cruz de la Soledad, with 227 out of 564 ballots, followed by Javier Carranza Cruz with 138.
Ana Luisa Raygoza Ibarra wiped out the competition in San Nicolas de Ibarra taking 327 votes out the 579 total to earn her third stint at the delegation. Her closest competitor, David Rodriguez Guardado, gained a paltry 98 ballots.
The new town officials will take up their posts the first of next week. How San Antonio will finally swallow the change remains to be seen.