The Campbell Reporter

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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

New Member: Evan Low talks with supporters on election night. His second run for Campbell City Council proved successful. He received the third highest number of votes.

Voters choose Kennedy, Furtado, Low

By Moryt Milo

It was a late night for the five candidates vying for three Campbell City Council seats. Final tallies came in well after 1 a.m., but the results were apparent from the moment the polls closed. Incumbents Jane Kennedy and Dan Furtado and second-time runner Evan Low never lost ground. Their four-year term will begin Dec. 11, when the city's new mayor and vice mayor will be appointed.

Kennedy was ahead from the start as the first absentee ballots were counted. Kennedy earned 22.66 percent or 4,857 votes, Furtado had 22.25 percent or 4,769 votes, Low had 22.11 percent or 4,738 votes, Tom Francois came in fourth with 19.44 percent or 4,165 votes and Margie Mitchell was last with 13.54 or 2,901 votes.

Only 119 votes separated Kennedy from third-place finisher Low.

Throughout most of the evening the candidates were cautiously optimistic, with voting information mostly unchanged between 8 and 11 p.m.

Low and his supporters, who waited at the Pruneyard Plaza Hotel, weren't jumping to any conclusions as the election remained relatively close. At the Sonoma Chicken Coop, where Kennedy, Furtado and Francois waited for the returns to be posted, there was also a sense of uncertainty.

Around midnight, with 10 of the 18 precincts reporting, it became evident Kennedy was going to retain her seat, as was Furtado, and Low would become the city's newest council member.

Kennedy said with a second term comes new challenges that she is ready to accept. One of them will be working toward bringing the Vasona Light Rail line to completion, an additional 1.5-mile extension into Los Gatos near Highway 85. She also wants to focus on sprucing up Winchester Boulevard, which is regarded as the north-south gateway into Campbell.

"There is a lot to do, and I am happy I have four more years to do it," she said.

Furtado said, "I am grateful to the voters and want to continue providing a balance of services that are important to the community, including housing and jobs."

He thinks the next four years will be positive for Campbell from a revenue-raising standpoint and sees projects such as the new hotel being proposed at Creekside and Campisi ways, as good sources for stabilizing the city's budget. He also wants to address the hiring freeze in the city and is hopeful a healthier budget will allow the city to refill some of its 20 vacant staffing positions.

For newcomer Low, it is a different challenge. Randi Okamura, a mentor of Low's, said, "Now the hard work starts. Running a campaign was one thing. Now he will have to learn to govern." Okamura added, "We'll see how wise he is beyond his years, but I know he's up to the challenge."

Low said in his second campaign he did more outreach work and strengthened his platforms. This time around, he said, he received more support from Campbell residents.

"Campbell has a huge young population. It's nice to have someone who can bring in a fresh perspective," said Gilbert Wong, Low's campaign manager.

Francois, a planning commissioner who had hoped to move into a council seat, said that the loss was tough, but he has accepted the way things turned out. He plans to continue working on the planning commission where he has served for nine years.

Margie Mitchell, who also lost her bid for a seat, said, "I have two more years with the high school district. I am just going to refocus on the students, and then probably next year I'll be able to plan my next steps."

Mitchell added, "I was happy with any outcome. I know it would have been tough to break in with two incumbents running, but I was for anybody who got in, whether it be me, Tom or Evan. That's what the residents picked, and I was happy with the outcome."

Throughout the evening candidates found themselves wondering why there was such a long delay in posting precinct results.

Campbell City Clerk Ann Bybee said she had heard from voters that there were long lines at 8 p.m. when the polls should have closed. She said that might have delayed gathering up the ballots and delivering them to the Registrar of Voters' office in San Jose.

"In years past results came in much quicker," she said. "I even called the registrar around 10 p.m. asking why precinct information was not being posted."

In addition, Bybee said she had received reports during the day that various precincts had problems with voting machines.

Matt Moreles, spokesman for the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, said this year's ballot was lengthier than normal, and it took voters more time to complete their selections.

The results of the election will be certified by the registrar's office 28 days after the election. According to Moreles, at that time the final tallies will include paper ballots, uncounted absentee and provisional ballots.

Koren Temple contributed to this story.