This time, it wasn’t even close: Ellery Deaton won the special election for the District 1 Seal Beach City Council seat by 62 percent of the vote. In all, 1,340 voters cast ballots in the Tuesday, Jan. 25 special election. Deaton received 826 of those votes. Business owner Joe Kalmick received 514.
The special election was necessary because Deaton fell just nine votes shy of the minimum mandated by the City Charter in the November election. The charter requires a council candidate to win 50 percent of the vote, plus one. As a result, Deaton was forced into a runoff against Kalmick, who took the second highest number of votes in November.
Planning Commission Chair Deaton will be sworn into office in February. Her election will create a vacancy on the Planning Commission. The City Council decided to postpone appointments to various commissions and committees until after the special election.
