The San Diego Union Tribune has a one sentence breaking news item on its home page reading: “BREAKING NEWS: Judge refuses request to force immediate count of all write-in ballots in mayoral race.” More later.
UPDATE: The Union-Tribune is updating its story here to reflect developments. In its 5:14 update, it notes the following: “[Judge] Helgesen, who issued his ruling after hearing two hours of arguments on the matter, said state law, not city law, applies, because the ballot also consolidated races from other jurisdictions. ‘The consolidation of the election dictates that state law would prevail upon the issus of counting the ballots,’ Helgesen said, noting that under state law ‘a write-in ballot would not count if a bubble were not filled in.'”