Measure A Sales Tax Extension Continues To Fail Passage But Gap Narrows To 124 votes Out Of 62,126 LB Ballots Counted Thus Far
8th Dist. Reform Ticket Ovalle Drops Further Behind And Incumbent Councilman Austin Now In Second Place For Runoff With Organized Labor-Backed Thrash-Ntuk
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(March 6, 2020) -- A March 6 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 but the vote margin has shrunk from 210 votes on March 5 to 124 votes now (a gap of 0.2% of 62,126 LB votes counted thus far.)
NO 31,125 50.10%
YES 31,001 49.90%
In LB's 8th Council district (with the top two finishers proceeding to a November runoff), Reform Ticket candidate Juan Ovalle has dropped further behind while Mayor-backed incumbent Al Austin has dropped to second place against organized-labor backed Tunua Thrash-Ntuk currently outpolling Austin by 131 votes (out of 6,031 8th dist. votes counted thus far.)
TUNUA THRASH-NTUK 2,186 36.25%
AL AUSTIN II 2,055 34.07%
JUAN ERICK OVALLE (N) 1,790 29.68
An L.A. County Registrar-Recorder release says 1,447,938 ballots Countywide have been counted with an estimated 678,050 remaining to be counted. These include:
50,000 Conditional Voter Registration
26,500 Provisional ballots
546,800 Vote by mail ballots (incl. vote by mail ballots received from Vote Centers, Drop Boxes and USPS as of March 5)
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
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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.)
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.
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Editing error on our part in an early version of this story indicated 802,380 ballots remained to be counted; updated figure is 678,050
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Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.
