A public safety tax measure extension in Orange Cove failed by two votes. Now, the city manager plans to ask for a recount.

With a final vote count update last Friday, Measure O received 352 yes votes and 178 no votes out of 530 total. That is 66.4151%. It needed two-thirds (or more than 66.6%) to pass.

“That’s a shame, because it is for public safety,” Orange Cove City Manager Daniel Parra said. “We’ll petition the county for a recount.”

Last week, the county added eight votes to count — ballots with signature problems. Voters could “cure” the ballot by reaching out to the election office. Orange Cove needed all eight of those ballots to be in favor for Measure O to pass — the count was 6 to 2.

The measure would have levied $95 per parcel, raising about $263,000 a year. Parra said it was an extension of an existing tax.

“In these smaller jurisdictions, every vote really counts. And, of course, they want a recount. They want their tax money,” said Fresno County Libertarian Party vice chair Kat McElroy. She wrote the opposition to Measure O in the county voter guide.

Only 17% of Orange Cove voters turned out for Measure O.

Recount Cheaper Than New Election

Fresno County Election Clerk James Kus certified the election last Friday after the final count.

“I currently estimate that a recount for Measure O would cost between $3,000 and $6,000. Without a final count and information from the requestor about what materials they want to examine and how they want to recount the ballots, I can’t be more precise. I will say that it is much more likely to be at the lower end of that range,” Kus said.

Parra said that figure is cheaper than a new election, which would cost $50,000.

“It could be the postmark that was not looked at carefully. So I’m just going to ask certain criteria just to look at certain things. And if something pops out, fine. It doesn’t, we gave it a shot,” Parra said.

Parra wants to look first at votes that came in after the March 5 election. Votes count that arrived at the election office by March 12, as long as it was postmarked by March 5.

Two votes would need to be flipped for Measure O to pass.

The final results show eight “undervotes,” meaning the voter skipped the question.

Recounts must be requested by Wednesday at 5 p.m.

McElroy said the economy, and the fact her group wrote an objection in the voter guide, led to Measure O’s failure.

“With inflation being very high for the last several years, people really do notice all the prices rising. Another tax is just more money out of everybody’s pockets,” McElroy said.