General Election

Karen S. Kim BURBANK -- As the four top vote-getters in Burbank's primary head to the general election inApril, the first order of business was deciding whose name would appear where on the ballot. Candidate Marsha Ramos' name will appear first on the general election ballot. Howard Rothenbach's, Dave Golonski's and Gary Olson's names will follow. The ballot order was determined by a drawing in the city clerk's office, where a representative of each candidate was asked to draw a number.

WHOLE FOODS PROPOSAL The council will consider a resolution denying a proposed Whole Foods Market on Main Street and Alameda Avenue in the Rancho District. The council has already voted 3-2 to direct the city attorney to draw up the resolution denying the plan, saying the size of the project was not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. But the project developer has submitted a letter to the city council asking council members to consider a smaller, 40,000-square-foot project before voting to officially reject the project.

Mark R. Madler Residents cast their votes in greater numbers for Tuesday's general election after a disappointing showing in the February primary. With all precincts reporting, 11,498 voters returned ballots in the election for two seats on the City Council and two spots on the Burbank Unified School District board. That number easily eclipsed the 10,376 cast in the primary and the 9,059 cast in the 2003 general election. There were 48,792 ballots sent out to registered voters in the city.

Laura Sturza Residents favored City Council candidates who live close to their precincts in this month's general election, but also cast their ballots based on the experience of those running for office. "I think that my expertise in dealing with airport and port authorities had something to do with [my strong showing near the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport,]" said Todd Campbell, the policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air. Campbell, who won the second open seat on the council, and incumbent Jef Vander Borght, the top vote-getter, earned more than 40% of the votes in some precincts -- Campbell in one and Vander Borght in four.

Laura Sturza The final four candidates for two vacant City Council seats have little time to rest on their success as they prepare for the April 8 general election. At Tuesday's primary, Jef Vander Borght drew 48.5% of the vote, Gary Bric 28.5%, Todd Campbell 24.4% and Brian Malone 21%. All aim to join incumbent council members Dave Golonski, Stacey Murphy and Marsha Ramos on the dais May 1. The percentages from the final count released Friday differed from Tuesday's percentages.

Mark R. Madler An open primary measure on the Nov. 2 ballot has been described as either needed political reform or a way to narrow the options of voters throughout the state. Voters are asked to weigh in on whether they want to be able to choose any candidate in a primary election for state constitutional officers, members of the Legislature and members of Congress, regardless of political affiliation. The top two candidates receiving the most votes would be placed on the general election ballot.

Campaign mailers arrive after election BURBANK -- For candidates in local elections, one of the biggest expenses can be campaign mailers, and one of the biggest headaches can be when they don't arrive as scheduled. In last week's City Council election, candidates Vahe Hovanessian and Todd Campbell both sent out mailers that didn't arrive until on or after Election Day. Hovanessian contacted postal officials and initiated an investigation as to why his mailers were not delivered on time.

CITY HALL — City Council hopeful Jess Talamantes joined incumbents Dave Golonski and David Gordon as the top three vote-getters Tuesday for the three council seats up for election, with all 42 precincts reporting. Each of the top three candidates led by at least 1,000 votes and qualified for the April 14 general runoff election. A total of 10,889 votes were cast, with no candidate winning more than 50% of the vote to automatically win a seat on the council. The top six vote-getters will be placed on the ballot for the April 14 general election.

CITY HALL — The county-certified results of Tuesday's general election show that 20% of Burbank's 51,201 eligible voters returned ballots, with winning council candidates Gary Bric and Anja Reinke nearly splitting the city's 42 precincts between them. Bric edged out Reinke as the top vote-getter with 6,301 votes, just 15 ahead of Reinke's 6,286. Bric, who is serving on the Traffic and Transportation Committee, captured 20 precincts in all — with a particularly strong nexus of support in the Hillside and Northwest Districts.

Ballots have been mailed out to voters in the special election to fill a vacated City Council seat.DOWNTOWN BURBANK -- About 4,000 ballots have been returned so far in the city's third go-around with an all-mail ballot, the City Clerk's Office said this week. The office sent out 48,000 ballots for the special election to fill the City Council seat vacated by Stacey Murphy in August. The last batch of ballots went out Tuesday to voters who registered at the last minute. While City Clerk Margarita Campos is hopeful that all registered voters would return the ballots, she knows that won't be the case.

To all the voters who voted in the general election — thank you for participating in our most important civic duty (“It's official: Gabel-Luddy wins,” April 16). I am pleased and honored to have been elected as a new member to the Burbank City Council. Whether you supported me or not, I pledge to do my very best to represent everyone, and I hope to earn your respect and trust. During the campaign walking door to door, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with residents across the city, and that gave me a deeper appreciation of many of the city’s continuing challenges, as well as many aspects of our city that make it a great place to live and work.

With the mail-in ballots for the April 12 general election out, the voter response could be even lower than the 14.3% who participated in the primary. The tepid response, some politicos say, can probably be attributed to the quiet Burbank campaign culture, where just one election forum is organized for the citywide races for school board and City Council. Even as ballots were sent out on Tuesday, the two council run-off candidates, Bob Frutos and Emily Gabel-Luddy, continued to make phone calls, send e-mails and knock on the doors of prospective voters in an attempt to drum up election interest.

The voter turnout in Burbank’s primary election on Tuesday dropped by 6% from what had already been a low 20.4% participation rate two years ago, which political observers attributed to apathy and a lack of hot-button issues. Just 8,106 ballots were received by the Burbank city clerk’s office by 7 p.m. Tuesday, compared with 10,990 during the previous primary nominating election in 2009 — making for the lowest showing since implementing the mail-in ballot system in 2005, according to election returns.

City Council incumbent Gary Bric cruised to re-election on Tuesday, securing more than 50% of the vote and bypassing the April 12 general election, when candidates Emily Gabel-Luddy and Bob Frutos will face off for Mayor Anja Reinke's vacated seat. With all 42 precincts reporting, Bric received 4,642 of 8,072 votes cast in the election, followed by Gabel-Luddy with 3,845 and Frutos with 3,071. Jacqueline Waltman, a state probation official, failed to make the primary cut, with 2,131 votes.

Democrat Chahe Keuroghelian on Monday ended his candidacy for state Assembly, setting up a face off between two candidates to represent Glendale, Burbank and parts of Los Angeles in a Nov. 2 election. Keuroghelian, an Armenian-language television host and former public information officer for the Glendale Police Department, was one of two remaining candidates for the 43rd Assembly District in a June 8 Democratic primary ahead of the general election. He could not be reached for comment Monday evening after he sent out the announcement.

General Growth Properties, which operates the Glendale Galleria and Burbank Town Center, rejected a $10-billion bid Tuesday from rival Simon Properties Inc. that could have brought the firm out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. General Growth had considered the offer over the last week, before Simon Properties made the bid public, but in a response Tuesday said it had determined the offer was “not sufficient to preempt the process we are undertaking to explore all avenues to emerge from Chapter 11 and maximize value for all the company’s stakeholders.

CITY HALL — City Council hopeful Jess Talamantes joined incumbents Dave Golonski and David Gordon as the top three vote-getters Tuesday for the three council seats up for election, with all 42 precincts reporting. Each of the top three candidates led by at least 1,000 votes and qualified for the April 14 general runoff election. A total of 10,889 votes were cast, with no candidate winning more than 50% of the vote to automatically win a seat on the council. The top six vote-getters will be placed on the ballot for the April 14 general election.

CITY HALL — The county-certified results of Tuesday's general election show that 20% of Burbank's 51,201 eligible voters returned ballots, with winning council candidates Gary Bric and Anja Reinke nearly splitting the city's 42 precincts between them. Bric edged out Reinke as the top vote-getter with 6,301 votes, just 15 ahead of Reinke's 6,286. Bric, who is serving on the Traffic and Transportation Committee, captured 20 precincts in all — with a particularly strong nexus of support in the Hillside and Northwest Districts.