Will selection of mayor and mayor pro tem show council harmony? Final Yorba Linda vote counts

First test of the City Council's spirit of cooperation or level of disharmony comes Dec. 2 with the selection of a mayor and mayor pro tem. Except for combative periods in the 1990s and more recently, councils have rotated each member through the two positions.

Expect Gene Hernandez, now in the second slot, to become mayor on a 5-0 vote, but the pro tem choice offers possibilities that could hearld future contention, if the vote is divided.

Based on most rotations since the first council was seated in 1967, Mark Schwing is due to be mayor pro tem, but alliances and the occupant as probable mayor in the 2016 election year likely will kill his chances. Members might plug newcomer Peggy Huang earlier into the rotation or name Tom Lindsey, in line after Schwing.

The water and school district boards always follow a rotation policy, so expect Ric Collett to become president of the former Dec. 11 and Eric Padget to lead the latter beginning Dec. 9.

Meanwhile, the vote count is now complete:

--Final council tallies: Peggy Huang, 8,253; Tom Lindsey, 8,081; Jeff Decker, 6,476; Judy Murray, 5,520; Matt Palmer, 3,087; Paul Ambrus, 2,575. Measure JJ, cutting council ben- efits, was 16,061 “yes” and 2,714 “no.” Turnout was 19,910 of 40,270 registered, 49.4 percent.

Other final counts: Karin Freeman, 19,413; Carrie Buck, 18,278; Brenda McCune, 9,243; Jim Brunette, 6,723, in the school district, and Brett Barbre 35,192 and Greg Diamond 17,707 for the seat representing Yorba Linda on the county Municipal Water District board.

The percentage of city votes for Congressman Ed Royce was 79.8, while new state Assembly member Ling-Ling Chang won 75.4, both higher than the 68.6 and 63.9 they took district-wide.

In the governor's race, Yorba Linda voters gave Neel Kashkari 70.1 percent, with statewide GOP candidates attracting similar percentages. Counts for the six state propositions mirrored state results, except for the city's “no” on Prop. 47, which lowers some criminal penalties.

--Would the city's voter turnout increase if precincts were eliminated and elections held by mail only? Yes, but that's based on numbers from residents who requested mail-in ballots.

Of 40,270 registered for the November election, 22,617 were permanent mail-in voters or applied for a mail-in ballot just for this election. Only 11,741 (51.9 percent) returned the ballot, and 8,169 of the remaining 17,653 (46.2 percent) voted at a precinct.

--Yorba Lindans didn't mark choices in every race, following a usual practice. Although 19,910 cast ballots, only 19,386 voted for governor and 19,247 and 18,712 for Congress and Assembly candidates, respectively. Measure JJ drew 18,775 voters.

--Registration has increased by 98 to 40,368 since the cut-off date for the Nov. 4 ballot. The count and percentages: 22,360 Republicans (55.4); 8,608 Democrats (21.3); 7,795 no party preference (19.3); and 1,605 miscellaneous and five minor parties (4.0).