Today, San Diego city elections officials released the results of an examination of certain write-in ballots cast for Mayor last month. They show that over 4,100 voters wrote in Donna Frye for Mayor, but didn’t blacken the oval next to the write-in line. If these votes are considered valid, Frye received the most votes for Mayor on November 2.

This factual revelation increases the likelihood that Frye will pursue an appeal in the State Court of Appeals, to obtain a decision that those type of votes should be counted.

Today the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana denied a request to halt the certification and order a revote in the San Diego mayoral election.

The lawsuit, filed by a supporter of third-place finisher Ron Roberts, said the city violated its charter by allowing Frye to run as a write-in candidate and sought a new election between Murphy and Roberts, the top two vote-getters in the March primary.

In the decision, The court declined to consider whether the city violated its charter, saying the challenge should have come before the election. The lawsuit by Thomas McKinney, who works in the office of Roberts supporter John Howard, was filed six days after the vote. The Court noted that it was not considering the separate question whether write-in votes cast for Frye that were not bubbled correctly should be counted. That is the subject of a separate suit and possible post-certification contest by Frye.

Write-in candidate Donna Frye refused to concede, saying she was “still in the hunt” and was considering whether to start a legal defense fund.

The final tally — which shows Murphy with 34.5 percent, Frye with 34.1 percent and Roberts, a San Diego County supervisor, with 31 percent — excludes ballots on which voters wrote Frye’s name but failed to darken the adjoining oval. She estimates those ballots total up to 5,000, potentially enough to overtake Murphy.