Special Election to be Held Tuesday for Vacant San Diego Council Seat

A special election will be held Tuesday in which nine candidates are competing to fill the San Diego City Council's vacant District 4 seat.

The district covering the city's southeast has been vacant since Jan. 2, when Tony Young resigned after six years to become chief executive of the San Diego and Imperial Counties chapter of the American Red Cross. In the running are:

-- Blanca Lopez Brown, president of the Lemon Grove School District governing board, a teacher, a businesswoman;

-- Myrtle Cole, a former lieutenant with the San Diego Community College Police Department;

-- Dwayne Crenshaw, executive director of San Diego Pride and a longtime community activist;

-- Monica Montgomery, a lawyer who specializes in finance;

-- Barry Pollard, an electronics industry employment recruiter;

-- Ray Smith, listed as a pastor and developer;

-- Sandy Spackman, an administrative coordinator and educator;

-- Bruce Williams, a senior community policy adviser;

-- Tony Villafranca, a community volunteer. If a candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, they will win the election outright. Otherwise, the top two voter-getters will face each other in a runoff.

Young left office just after redistricting took effect. But because he was re-elected in 2010, the District 4 boundary at that time will determine which voters choose his successor.

About 70 polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

All polling places will also accept mail-in ballots on election day, according to county officials. Vote-by-mail ballots can be dropped off outside the Registrar of Voters office at 5201 Ruffin Road, Suite I, between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday.

—Editor's note: A previous version of this story identified Blanca Brown as vice president of the Lemon Grove School Board. She serves as president.