Voters Go To Polls To Fill Tom Lantos Seat

Voter polls for the remaining term of former Congressman Tom Lantos, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, will open at 7 a.m. Tuesday in the corresponding counties.

Five candidates are on the special election ballot but if any single candidate does not receive more than 50 percent of the votes, a general election will take place in June for the term that ends in January 2009, said San Mateo County Elections Manager David Tom.

Former democratic Sen. Jackie Speier was endorsed by Lantos before his cancer-related death Feb 11. Speier, and two other republican candidates, Mike Maloney and Greg Conlon, applied for candidacy in San Mateo County, said Tom.

However the way the congressional districts are mapped, only percentages of each county are eligible to vote. For instance, Tom said the City of Belmont and most of the coast of San Mateo County lie outside of the voting boundary, and residents will not participate in the poll.

The majority of the voters are in the San Mateo County area, he said.

Lantos, 80, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in late December, and had announced he would not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, but had committed to serving the rest of his 14th term through December.

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