Kyle Bracewell
The results are in! Following the March 6 election, Sylvia Scott-Hayes, Mona Field and Warren Furutani have successfully retained their seats on the L.A. Community College District (LACCD) board of trustees.
But Georgia Mercer, newly-appointed LACCD board president and the incumbent to Seat Five, must face opponent Roy Burns in a run-off election scheduled for May 15, 2007.
This is because trustee candidates are required to earn a majority vote (50 percent plus one vote) to win. Lacking a majority, the top two vote-getters for that seat must compete in a run-off election.
“I’m disappointed, but not shocked,” Mercer said of the results.
“With three opponents, it’s very difficult to earn a majority,” she said.
Mercer is very concerned with the high cost of a run-off election.
“The election will cost $4.3 million,” she said. “The district has to pay that money back.”
This comes just two weeks after the board decided to appoint, rather than elect, a replacement for Michael Waxman, the former board president who announced his resignation in February.
According to Mercer, the decision to appoint was made in an effort to avoid holding a costly special election.
“A special election would have cost even more than the run-off,” Mercer said. “There is no way you can justify that kind of expense.”
Burns, however, stated that the reasons for the board’s decision are “political.”
He declined any further comment on the issue.
As for the March 6 results, Burns said he was “happy with the number of votes I got.”
“It is very hard to defeat an incumbent,” Burns said. “Many people automatically vote for them.”
“Incumbents’ names are marked with a star on the ballot,” added Mercer. Low voter turnout may have affected the results, with only 7.7 percent of registered voters casting a ballot, of which 45.1 percent were absentee votes, according the office of the City Clerk. Mercer expects the May 15 voter turnout to be even lower.
“The L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD) board has run-off elections which will also be on the ballot in the valley and harbor areas,” she said.
“But in most areas, Mr. Burns and I will be the only thing on the ballot in May,” she added.
Burns, however, disagreed about the impact of a low turnout.
“I don’t think low voter turnout really had any effect on the outcome,” he said