WARNER SPRINGS SCHOOL BOARD SEAT MAY GO TO A COIN TOSS
Two candidates tied for third of three available board seats
Draw straws? Poker game? Rock-Paper-Scissors?
Just how will the Warner Springs Unified School District board of directors decide the winner of a tied race for one of three school board seats in the November election?
Considering that the 352 votes apiece tallied for the seat were between longtime friends, septuagenarians Terry Cox of Sunshine Summit and Gene Doxey of Los Tules, it’s probably best the decision be made from a far less competitive event, said Superintendent David MacLeod.
“We’re probably just f lipping a coin,” MacLeod said.
The Warner Springs school board vote totals, finalized on Dec. 3, marked the first certified tie that San Diego Registrar of Voters Michael Vu said he can remember in 24 years of working elections. By law, the winner will be decided by a “drawing of lots,” such as pulling a name out of a hat or bowl.
Cox and Doxey trailed the top two finishers in the Warner school board election, incumbents Melissa Krogh (616 votes) and Melody Sees (471 votes). Cox and Doxey
both finished ahead of a third incumbent looking to be re-elected, Carolyn Alto-Audibert (247 votes). All outpaced Byron Anthony Klemaske II, who finished last of the six hopefuls with 238 votes.
“May the best man come out ahead,” said Cox, 70, the president of the Warner Springs Community Resource Board, of which Doxey is a board member. “We’re not going to come out fighting.”
Formed in 1938, the Warner Springs Unified School District has one school for 230 kids, from preschool to 12th grade. The school district covers a 432-square-mile unincorporated area in northern East County — larger than the boundary of the city of San Diego, just over 372 square miles.
Warner Springs school board President