Write-In Candidate's Camp Is Confident in School Board Victory

Beverly Hills voters are poised to repeat history if they elect a write-in candidate in the Nov. 8 Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education race.

“As of tonight the official numbers are not yet announced. But round-the-clock canvassing and some back-of-napkin tallying indicates that we’re headed to the School Board!” , the election’s only write-in candidate, posted on his Facebook campaign website late Friday.

Should Margo get elected, he would become the second person in Beverly Hills to win a public office through a write-in campaign. Such campaigns are challenging because voters must be educated how to properly fill in a candidate’s name on a ballot. Also, a write-in candidate does not have his or her statement printed on the ballot. Mayor Barry Brucker was the first resident to win a write-in campaign when he was elected to the BHUSD Board of Education in 1997.

Margo, a Beverly Vista parent who on Sept. 23, has spent two days watching the vote count at the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office, according to his campaign website.

Also in the race for three seats on the five-member Board of Education are incumbent , El Rodeo parent and educator/producer .

Because write-in and provisional ballots were not counted until after the polls closed Tuesday, no final election tally is available. Preliminary results released Friday afternoon on the Registrar-Recorder website show that Goldberg has 1,247 votes (40.04 percent), Bilak has 683 votes (21.93 percent) and Hall has 642 votes (20.26 percent). Andy Licht, who of the race—though his name and statement —has 542 votes (17.41 percent).

The next election tally is scheduled to be posted at 1 p.m. on Monday.

More than 1,000 write-in ballots were received by the Registrar-Recorder’s office, making it possible that Margo will come in second after Goldberg’s commanding lead in the vote count.

Some Margo supporters are already predicting a second-place finish.

“Goldberg, Margo and … ? The real drama now is in the race for third. Too close to call,” Planning Commissioner Brian Rosenstein wrote Friday on Margo’s campaign website. Rosenstein, who endorsed Goldberg and Margo, accompanied the latter to the Registrar-Recorder’s office on Thursday, according to Margo’s site.

Bilak, who recently over a controversy involving a candidate debate, feels confident she will get a seat, according to her campaign blog.

“As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, I am still in second place for one of the three seats for the Beverly Hills School Board,” she wrote. “Hopefully, Monday will be the final counting of the remaining 100 or so ballots and I will remain in second place.”

Neither Goldberg nor Hall had any election comments on their websites.

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