Mail Tribune News - Stults wins Ward 2 write-in vote

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2000-09-15

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Stults wins Ward 2 write-in vote Ashland count expected today CENTRAL POINT -- Bill Stults completed a sweep by slower-growth advocates of three Central Point City Council seats and the mayor's job in last week's election when he won the Ward 2 seat with 161 write-in votes. Jackson County Clerk Kathy Beckett said no other candidate came close to Stults in the write-in count, which elections workers completed Monday. She said Steve Osborne, a mortgage broker, received a handful of votes. No one was listed for the Ward 2 (southeast) seat on the council on last week's general election ballot. But Stults, manager of The Meadows retirement community, filed papers with the city as an organized write-in candidate. Stults said Monday he was surprised not at his victory but at the quick result, which he had been told to expect late in the week. He will join new Mayor Bill Walton, who ousted incumbent Rusty McGrath, and council members Donna Higginbotham in Ward 1 (southwest) and David Gilmour in Ward 3 (central), both of whom also unseated incumbents. All four say they favor systems development charges, which are charged to builders to help pay for such services as water and sewer lines and streets. Beckett said a count of write-in votes for Position 4 on the Ashland City Council is expected to be completed later today. She said workers began the count Monday afternoon. Cameron Hanson, an insurance agent in Medford, won 2,584 votes as the only candidate listed on last week's ballot after the death of incumbent Ken Hagen Sept. 21. But 5,029 ballots were not punched. Cate Hartzell mounted a write-in campaign for the seat; elections workers will have to check how many voters wrote in her name and the position she sought on their ballots. Mail Tribune Copyright �  The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA