PACIFIC PALISADES—The election for Area representatives and At-large representative for the Pacific Palisades Community Council has ended. The vote count for the election was announced on the PPCC’s meeting on Thursday, September 24.
The winners for each seat, from Areas 1 to 7, are respectively Joanna Spak, Steve Cron, Haldis Toppel, Karen Ridgley, Sue Kohl, Matthew Quiat, and Jennifer Li.
The Area 8 seat remained vacant, and Alan Goldsmith won the At-large representative seat.
The PPCC Election Committee, where Councilmember David Kaplan served as chair during the election, released its official report on the results of the election. The committee thanked Palisidians for participating in the election.
“We had a large voter turnout of 1,085 valid votes, particularly in light of the pandemic and considering there were only three contested races,” the report says. “We commend all the candidates for their efforts in this difficult time.”
The committee notes that 1,085 ballots were counted out of a raw number of 1,209. “Duplicate votes were the primary reason for invalidating votes,” Kaplan explained in the report’s data sheet. “Exclusion of invalid votes did not change the outcome of any election.”
“This result was fortuitous, but the Committee was fully prepared to follow the Bylaws to whatever outcome the rules dictate,” Kaplan added.
The newly elected members of the PPCC board will be seated during the next meeting on October 8 — the new terms officially begin on Thursday, October 1.
Alternate candidates will be nominated and potentially voted on by the board during the October 22 meeting, according to PPCC Chair David Card.
All PPCC meetings will continue to be held virtually at least until January 31, 2021, Card noted.
