(March 5, 2020.) -- A March 5 afternoon updated ballot tally from the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder shows the 2020 LB Mayor/Council sought Measure A sales tax extension continues to fail passage by a thin margin that has now expanded to 210 votes.
In the 8th Council district race (with the top two finishers proceeding to a November runoff), Reform Ticket candidate Juan Ovalle is now 144 votes behind organized labor-backed Tunua Thrash-Ntuk who is 72 votes behind incumbent Al Austin. Additional LB ballots remain to be counted but when asked how many, the County Registar-Recorder's media reps said those figures aren't yet available. Measure A, placed on a special citywide March 2020 ballot by the City Council (which declared a "fiscal emergency" to do so) sought to enable the Mayor/Council to continue collecting/spending the 2016 1% Measure A General Fund ("blank check") sales tax increase but without its 2016 specified reduction in half (2023) or end date (2027.) NO 28,088 50.19% That's a slim margin of 0.38% of the 55,966 LB ballots counted thus far. An L.A. County Registrar-Recorder release says 1,294,610 ballots have been counted Countywide with an estimated 802,380 outstanding ballots Countywide remaining to be counted. These include: In the 8th dist City Council race (with the top two finishers proceeding to a November 2020 runoff), the latest tally shows: AL AUSTIN 1,695 35.33% The ballot counting continues Friday March 6. [Scroll down for further.] |
In the 2nd Council district, Reform Ticket candidate Robert Fox will face Mayor Garcia/LB police/firefighter union supported Cindy Allen. In the 6th district (with no Reform Ticket candidate), organized labor backed Suely Saro (who finished first in March) will face incumbent Vice Mayor (Mayor/LB police-firefighter union supported) Dee Andrews. In LB School Board races, Tonia Reyes Uranga and Erik Miller are headed to a November runoff in Central/WLB School District 2. Doug Otto was elected outright with 52.55% of the vote in ELB/SE LB School district 4
If Measure A ultimately fails, it will be a major political defeat for Mayor Garcia's messaging and monied campaign formatics against virtually no organized or competitively funded opposition. It could also focus attention on current Mayor/Council spending practices, making them an issue in the upcoming November Council runoffs in district 2, 6 and 8 (which come after the Mayor recommends and the Council votes in Sept. 2020 on a FY21 City Hall budget.) Also a wild card not discussed publicly: if Measure A fails, the Mayor/Council could vote to put another tax or other "revenue increase" ballot measure on the November 2020 ballot. In the March 2020 election cycle, Reform Ticket candidates Robert Fox (2nd dist.) and Juan Ovalle (8th dist.) opposed Measure A; 2nd dist. runoff candidate Cindy Allen, 8th dist. incumbent Al Austin and challenger Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, and 6th dist. incumbent Dee Andrews and challenger Suely Saro supported it.
An early version of this story said Measure A is failing passage by 90 votes when the actual margin is 210 votes.
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