Mendocino may complete pot vote count Friday

Mendocino County election officials are still counting 10,385 absentee ballots from the June 3 election, results that will determine the outcome of a closely watched campaign to repeal the county's liberal marijuana guidelines.

"We hope to be done counting by Friday," said County Clerk Sue Ranochak.

But Ranochak said when the results will be formally announced is uncertain. "I just can't say until we're done," she said.

Interest in the Measure B vote outcome is still intense 16 days after the primary election, judging from the number of daily calls coming into Ranochak's office.

On election night, the county's election Web site crashed because of unexpected heavy volume.

The Measure B fight attracted state and national attention, and drew one of the heaviest local voter turnouts for a primary election despite a near-record low statewide average of 27 percent. Ranochak predicted when Mendocino's turnout is officially calculated, it will be above 50 percent.

Ranochak said Wednesday she's as eager to get the votes counted as people are to know the results. "We know how much interest there is, so we're working hard to get it done," said Ranochak.

On election night, Measure B appeared to win by a 52-48 percent margin. But most of the 16,364 ballots counted then were from the inland areas of Ukiah, Redwood Valley and Potter Valley, where there was strong support for repeal of county marijuana guidelines.

But with the final 40 percent of the vote now being counted, that pattern could continue a shift that began election night.

As the tabulation broadened, Measure B's margin of victory tightened significantly as ballots began to be counted from more marijuana-tolerant regions of the county, including the Mendocino Coast, Anderson Valley and Willits/Laytonville.

Because many of the 10,000 votes still uncounted are from those areas, Measure B's 701-vote victory margin could be overcome.

If Measure B passes, it would repeal current county standards decriminalizing possession and cultivation of up to 25 marijuana plants per person and adopt more restrictive state guidelines of six plants.

Measure B also repeals a directive to local law enforcement to make marijuana prosecution the lowest priority.

A recent state appellate court ruling has raised questions about Measure B's potential effectiveness.

The Los Angeles court ruled that state marijuana guidelines that Measure B seeks to impose locally are unconstitutional.

You can reach Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470 or mgeniella@pressdemocrat.com.