Presiding judge recuses San Diego judges from 'bubble' lawsuit

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SAN DIEGO (AP) - The presiding judge of the San Diego Superior Court on Thursday recused all 124 judges on the bench from hearing a lawsuit filed in the San Diego mayoral election.

The League of Women Voters of San Diego filed a lawsuit Wednesday, asking a judge to require that all votes cast for mayoral write-in candidate Donna Frye be counted including ballots on which voters failed to fill in the bubble next to her name.

On Thursday, the presiding judge, John Einhorn, recused the entire San Diego Superior Court bench because San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy was a judge for 15 years and Einhorn wanted to avoid any appearance of favoritism. Einhorn earlier recused the bench from hearing a state lawsuit that sought to stop the vote count.
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State Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, the incoming chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment, and Constitutional Amendments Committee, said bubble or no, common sense dictated that a voter who took the time to write-in Frye's name intended to vote for her.

"Anyone who wonders why people are losing faith in government and in the electoral process only has to take one look at what's happening in San Diego," Bowen said.
http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/11460048p-12374052c.html