Mendocino's ballot measure fails

A Mendocino County ballot measure that would have allowed for commercial development of the former Masonite plant outside Ukiah failed by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in the polls on Tuesday.

Final results from the Tuesday election give Measure A 7,029 votes, or 38 percent of the votes cast, the county elections office said.

The “no” votes came in at 11,603, or 62 percent, with all 247 precincts reporting, officials said.

It was not clear early Wednesday how many outstanding mail-in ballots might still need to be counted or whether there were enough to alter the outcome.

Measure A proponents conceded after early results were released on Tuesday that it appeared the proposal had been defeated, however, despite the nearly $900,000 in election spending they’ve reported so far.

“It’s a pretty insurmountable number,” Measure A spokesman Brian Sobel, of Petaluma, said Tuesday. “We certainly are extremely disappointed with that result.”

In Lakeport, a measure to reinstate the sales of fireworks appeared victorious with 59 percent of the vote, according to the Lake County elections office.

A total 514 people voted to overturn a City Council decision banning fireworks sales in the city, while 353, or about 48 percent, voted against it.