[Scroll down for further.]

The ideological battle in the 70th Assembly district (80% of LB + San Pedro + Avalon) reflected a well-organized statewide effort by politically progressive Dems (including but not limited to "Bernie-crats") to move CA Dem Party policies in a more leftish direction than favored by a number of LB elected officials. Both sides ran campaigns for slates of their favored candidates. Progressive "blue revolution" Dems set up booths at the building's side entrance citing their policy positions. Their campaign fliers stated in part: "Blue Revolution. We are the grassroots activists. We are the working Class. With seats at the table, we will reform the party."

Supporters of candidates favored by local elected Dems were stationed at the building's front entrance; their campaign fliers listed their slate's endorsements by LB City Councilmembers Al Austin, Lena Gonzalez, Jeannine Pearce, Rex Richardson, Roberto Uranga and LBCC Trustee Uduak-Joe Ntuk and called their slate "united progressives" for "diverse, transparent, experienced progressive leaders" who were "united on issues" including "livable wages, education for all, healthcare for all, racial justice, war on drugs repair, worker's rights" and senior, LGBTQ and teacher advocacy.

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Any Dem registered to vote in the Assembly district could cast votes in person between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at the Teamsters Local 848 union hall...and the large turnout surprised local Dem officials. Ballots ran out (twice) and more ballots were sent over.

Sergio Carrillo (CA Dem Party rep for region 16/Ass'y Districts 58, 63, 66. 70) said the turnout showed local Democrats' organizing skills; he conducted the meeting in a businesslike manner, explaining each step in the process; meeting actions were open and could be observed by attendees.

Mr. Carrillo announced from the podium that 725 individuals had signed-in to cast ballots; 720 ballots were cast; 6 were tossed out (citing Party rules governing over-voted ballots [votes for more than 14 delegates] or submitted blank), leaving 714 ballots to be counted. Ballots were counted in groups of eight groups of three persons (volunteers from among meeting attendees), each group having one batch of ballots.

Voting Dems could choose between 1 to 14 candidates from among two listed groups: "self-identified female" (women) and "other than self-identified female" (men) with the top seven in each category prevailing. Some vote outcomes on the delegate selection ballots were quite close...and one was a tie decided by a coin toss.

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An initial vote tally indicated LB Firefighter Wayne Chaney (part of the slate backed by LB electeds) received the same number of votes (217) as blue revolution progressive Dem Ben Hauck (organizer/activist with Democratic Socialists of America) and Mr. Carrillo announced that under Dem Party rules, the tie would be broken by a coin toss. Mr. Hauck lost the coin toss, then said that during the ballot counting (open to public view), he observed that he had one more vote than the number reflected in the final tally.

That prompted a ballot recount on the spot, which ended with Mr. Hauck ahead of Mr. Chaney by three votes. In addition, Mr. Carrillo stated that the tally-sheet on the count for one of the eight-batches of ballots counted was off, "not by one or two, but by more." and as a result, all of the delegate vote totals -- displayed below -- will be considered "unofficial" and all of the ballots will be sent to Sacramento for a recount in the HQ of the CA Democratic Party.

Mr. Carrillo indicated that normally, the recount would be done locally...but [with the meeting hall nearly empty] there weren't sufficient people to get that task done.

[VIDEO added Jan 13, 2019, 10:26 a.m.] VIDEO added: Sergio Carrillo announcemes recount of all ballots to be conducted by Sac'to HQ of CA Dem Party.

In a related newsworthy development, LB's Cambodian-American community flexed its political muscle in electing as a delegate Vannderlynn Vong (LB Young Democrats, staffer for Councilman Roberto Uranga) who ran as part of the candidate slate endorsed by LB elected officials. LBREPORT.com observed a sizable turnout of Cambodian-American community members, including prominent Cambodian community activist Charles Song (in dark coat, photo below.)

Ms. Vong ended up with the highest number of votes (396) of any of the candidates seeking to become Dem Party delegates...and that vote turnout had an impact beyond. On a separate ballot, three delegate candidates sought to become the Assembly district's representative to the CA Dem Party's Executive Board. One was Tonia Reyes Uranga (former LB Councilwoman, spouse of LB Council incumbent Roberto Uranga) who received nearly the same number of votes electing her to the Executive Board (395) as Ms. Vong received for the delegate position.

However on the delegate election ballot, Ms. Uranga received only 241 votes, leaving her just three votes ahead of progressive Dem Allison Miller...and some supporters of the progressive "blue wave" slate saw an opportunity to change both of those outcomes.

If a recount or other challenge were to cost Ms. Uranga her three-vote delegate election margin, she'd also be ineligible to become the district's rep on the Party's Executive Board. That would give the coveted Executive Board slot to "blue wave" progressive challenger, Shannon Ross (VP of the San Pedro Democratic Club) who received 267 votes for that position.

Ms. Ross indicated to LBREPORT.com that she plans to raise issues concerning the election with the CA Democratic Party in Sacramento.

Meanwhile, local progressive "blue revolution" Dems cheered the outcome in which they captured 10 of 14 available delegate slots (and might end up with 11 if the Hauck-Chaney recount margin holds after the Sac'to ballot recount.)

Developing. Further to follow on LBREPORT.com.

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