Residents here cast their ballots in a controversial annexation referendum election, but no one's counting them.
At least not until 4th District Judge Howard M. Maetani rules on a lawsuit intended to stop the election.Voters were presented with two ballots, one white and the other, the referendum ballot, green. The referendum ballots were placed in the city safe.
If the court rules in favor of the developer who brought the suit, Culley Davis, the ballots will be destroyed. That will mean that annexations are an administrative and not a legislative function. Residents won't be able to come back with another annexation referendum and a city appeal to the Supreme Court is possible in that event.
If the court rules in favor of the city, the votes will be counted and the annexation issue decided.