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Democrat Lost After Two-Month Recount Effort – ‘Ballots were falling on the ground from the machines’

After the November election, Anson Williams, who portrayed Warren “Potsie” Weber on the popular 1970s sitcom “Happy Days,” believed he had successfully ousted the incumbent mayor, a yoga instructor, from the small Californian town of Ojai.

In fact, after the initial count, incumbent Democrat Betsy Stix trailed Weber by about 100 votes. In a neighborhood where only 3,604 votes had been cast just a few months prior, that was sufficient for Stix to issue a statement a few days later congratulating her self-described moderate Democratic rival.

But, as it turns out, Stix’s congratulatory note was premature.

The Wrap claims that “this is Ojai, where neighborhood politics are as erratic as the recent weather. And as Williams and his followers were about to find out, this odd little spa town offers a lot more than just hot stone massages and excursions in the Topatopa Mountains.

The entertainment news outlet reported that Williams said in a statement about the vote count:

“I went to where they were actually counting the votes and it was hysterical,”. “They have these machines that slice open the envelopes and drop the ballots into a plastic box. And while I’m watching, I’m seeing ballots popping out of the box onto the floor. I’m like, ‘There’s one popping out. There’s two popping out.’ Then some person comes in, scoops them up, and puts them all back into the box. I mean, we put people on the moon 50 some years ago, and we’ve got ballots popping all over the floor.”

It took county authorities three weeks to complete the Ojai vote tally, during which Williams watched as his 100-vote advantage gradually shrank to nothing. Once every ballot had been tabulated, officials discovered that there were more votes cast than there were real voters. Realizing that some ballots had been duplicate tallied took a few more weeks. They also learned that at least one vote could have been cast by a German citizen, which is against the law.

Tony Otto, a local artist who supported Tony Williams pushed for the recount (at a cost of $28,000), the artist also turned out to be Mayor Stix’s estranged ex-boyfriend.

Williams ultimately lost the election; the Ojai authorities published the results just before Christmas, some two months after the election, and Stix was pronounced the victor, 42 votes ahead of Williams.

Independent Writer. Marketing and communications strategist for politicians, artists, public figures & corporate brands for more than 10 years. Contact: @alejandrosbasso (Twitter)
Escritor independiente. Consultor en marketing y comunicaciones de políticos, artistas, figuras públicas y marcas por más de 10 años. Contacto: @alejandrosbasso (Twitter)

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