DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE CHALLENGES LOSS MEASURE B RECOUNT STOPPED.

Byline: Eugene Tong  Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Hart High School District board candidate M. Teresa Todd was prepared Tuesday to challenge her loss in last month's race for the governing panel, while supporters of Castaic Union School District's failed parcel tax measure halted their recount effort, having seen little change in the results.

Both parties based their petitions on the same premise - the county's optical scan InkaVote'' system might have miscounted some ballots, either because of smearing of ink marks on the form or other possible errors.

``Every person who takes upon themselves to go to the polls or submit an absentee ballot deserves to have their vote counted,'' Todd said of the recount, which is expected to begin Monday. ``If the machine did not count their vote, then it would be an injustice to the voter.''

Todd took third in the race for two seats on the William S. Hart Union High School District board with 20.53 percent of the vote, just 17 votes - or a tenth of a percent - behind second-place Gloria Mercado. Incumbent Steve Sturgeon took first with nearly 30 percent.

But Todd also picked up three more votes at three precincts where county officials conducted both machine and hand tallies. If the problem is widespread, it could make a difference in her race.

County election officials usually hand-count a random one percent of the ballots in every race, and Office of Registrar-Recorder spokeswoman Grace Sanchez said differences are rare. But officials have met with the voting machines' vendor to discuss possible problems.

``If there is an issue, that's unacceptable with the office,'' Sanchez said.

Todd said her challenge - to be mostly self-financed and expected to last up to six days at $2,000 per day - is worth the trouble.

Mercado, who reclaimed the seat she lost in 2001, believes the vote count has been accurate.

``If (Todd) has the money to do it, it's certainly within her right,'' she said. ``But I do have faith that the county registrar office ... that they have done their job.''

Meanwhile, supporters of Castaic's Measure B have stopped their recount effort. If approved, Castaic schools would receive up to $450,000 in parcel tax revenue over four years from local property owners to fund smaller class sizes, music programs and technology. The measure, which requires two-thirds majority, failed at the polls with only 60 percent - some 60 votes short of passage.

Renee Sabol, who headed the Measure B campaign, demanded a recount after a poll worker notified her of the ink-smearing problem. But the daylong effort was halted after five of the eight precincts were tallied and supporters lost one vote in the process.

Also, the county apparently has a system of correcting smeared ballots, Sabol said.

``We're more comfortable with the outcome of the election now that we've seen the corrected ballot and witnessed the method that the county used to address the problem of ink smearing on the ballot,'' she said. ``It's a shame that the only way we were able to find that out was to pay $2,000 for the recount.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com