SAN DIEGO -- A state judge on Monday set a Jan. 31 start date for a trial to determine whether Dick Murphy should be ousted as San Diego's mayor and replaced with write-in candidate Donna Frye.

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DISCUSS: The Mayor's Race

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Date Set For Mayoral Suits

Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner ruled in two lawsuits that say the San Diego County registrar of voters wrongfully disqualified ballots on which voters wrote Frye's name but failed to darken the adjoining optical-scan bubble.

Brenner also ordered the registrar to produce the disputed ballots. Attorneys for Frye supporters say a tally showed 5,547 Frye ballots with empty bubbles -- enough to overcome Murphy's 2,108 margin of victory in the Nov. 2 election which saw about 460,000 votes cast.

Fred Woocher, an attorney representing Frye supporters, asked Brenner to begin the trial in two weeks, saying he needed time to prepare and arrange for expert witnesses.

Bob Ottilie, an attorney for Murphy, opposed any delay, saying a cloud would hang over the city until the election is settled.

"Getting this done is more important than who wins," Ottilie said.

Brenner was assigned the case after all judges on the San Diego bench were recused to avoid the appearance of conflict. Murphy was a San Diego Superior Court judge before he was elected mayor of the nation's seventh largest city in 2000.

Previous Stories:

• January 23, 2005: City Attorney: Disputed Ballots In Mayoral Race Shouldn't Count
• January 6, 2005: Suit Seeks To Overturn Mayoral Election
• December 30, 2004: Attorney: City Council Should Declare Frye Mayor
• December 23, 2004: Frye Supporters Decry Election 'Inconsistencies'
• December 14, 2004: Recount: Frye Would Win If Bubble-less Ballots Were Legal
• December 8, 2004: Murphy Sworn In As Mayor
• December 3, 2004: Mayoral Inauguration On Hold
• November 19, 2004: Murphy Edges Past Frye In Mayor's Race
• November 1, 2004: San Diego Mayor's Race Too Close To Call