Mar. 10 Election Update: Measure A Sales Tax Extension Continues To Fail Passage, Gap Widens To 469 Votes; Margin of 0.64% Of 72,505 Votes Counted Thus Far
8th Dist. Reform Ticket Ovalle Drops Further Behind; Incumbent Councilman Austin Remains In Second Place For Runoff With Organized Labor-Backed Thrash-Ntuk
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(March 10, 2020, 4:45 p.m.) -- A March 10 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 with the vote margin now increased to 469 votes, a gap of 0.64% of 72,505 LB votes counted thus far)
NO 36,487 50.32%
YES 36,018 49.68%
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 remains in 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 2,615 36.63%
AL AUSTIN II 2,392 33.51%
JUAN ERICK OVALLE (N) 2,131 29.85%
An L.A. County Registrar-Recorder release says 1,632,579 ballots Countywide have been counted with an estimated 493,450 remaining to be counted. These include:
50,000 Conditional Voter Registration
15,500 Provisional ballots
400,950 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 over 50% 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.)
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.
There is a possible wild card not discussed publicly thus far. If Measure A fails, the Mayor/Council could vote to put another tax or other "revenue increase" ballot measure on the November 2020 ballot.
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