LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Municipal Election is over, and the city is now waiting for the certified results to be announced by the LA City Clerk’s Office. Although the results that came out on election night was not what John Choi hoped for, he nevertheless expressed his gratitude for the hundreds of volunteers and the thousands of community members who supported his candidacy.
“It has been an amazing opportunity, an amazing experience to learn more about what I can do – what we can do as a community – to make our city better,” Choi said.
“The result [on election night] obviously wasn’t what we wanted, but I did want to just emphasize how proud I am of the effort that we put together, how optimistic I am of the city’s future,” the Council District 13 candidate added.
On election night, Choi’s opponent, Mitch O’Farrell got the upper hand of the votes, garnering 11,556 over Choi’s 10,224.
Regardless of the results, Choi believed that his campaign “awakened” the underserved populations in LA, particularly the ethnic groups of Korean Americans and Asian Americans in CD 13.
Choi lauded the Korean community and other ethnic groups for being an “amazing support” base.
He noted that when all the votes are ultimately accounted for, he expects that it would show the great turnout of support not just from Koreans, but also Filipinos and other Asian American communities.
Speaking to reporters at the Shatto Recreation Center and Park in Koreatown, Choi said that he is not yet conceding the race to his opponent and that he is awaiting the announcement of the certified election results.
The City Clerk’s office is required by law to announce the certified election results within 21 days after the election, or no later than June 11 2013.
Without citing a specific number, Choi estimated that there are still several thousands of ballots that still need to be counted. He said that with O’Farrell leading in the count by roughly 1,300 votes, Choi said that they need to wait and see the what final cote count is before considering any steps to be taken.
Choi said that it is “critically important” for CD13 voters to have confidence in the election process by being fully informed of the actual outcome of the polls. This would also include an investigation or a consideration of the allegations of widespread voter fraud, Choi said.The Korean-American candidate – who was targeted by negative propaganda during the campaign period for being an “outsider” – acknowledged that the race is still not over, and that ultimately, the voice of the voters need to be respected.
“That’s why we’re currently waiting to see what the actual final vote count is before we make any further statements,” Choi said. He said that his team would wait for the elections “to be finalized” and that they would wait what happens when the certified results are released before taking steps as necessary.
As for the allegations of election fraud, Choi thinks that they have a strong case and evidence for this particular case. He reiterated that the decision lies with the City Attorney’s Office.
“We believe that there is a considerable amount of evidence showing that there was some level of voter fraud that could have had a direct impact on the outcome of this election,” Choi said.
Choi said that the no matter the outcome, at the end of the day, his commitment lies in the democratic process being rightfully upheld and be fully explored to ensure that people have faith in the process.
“Ultimately, I will respect the voters’ wishes. So if the voters have sent a clear message that they wanna choose Mitch O’Farrell, I will absolutely respect that, I think it’s important,” Choi said.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend June 8-11, 2013 Sec. A pg.7)
