Judge refuses to intervene in election dispute in San Diego mayor race News
Judge refuses to intervene in election dispute in San Diego mayor race

[JURIST] A retired judge appointed to handle the dispute of election results in the San Diego mayor's race said he will not order the count certain flawed write-in ballots and will not stop the results from being certified. In the election dispute, incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy leads city Councilwoman Donna Frye by 2,205 votes. However, Frye, who ran a last-minute write-in campaign, sought to include about 4,000 ballots on which voters failed to fill in a bubble next to her name. Helgesen said he would not order registrar's office to count those ballots. Helgesen also said he would not block the certification of results, essentially finalizing the victory claimed by Murphy on Friday unless Frye chooses to appeal. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the dispute. AP has more.

1:25 PM ET – From San Diego, the Union-Tribune has local coverage of the ruling.