Preliminary results have shown that more than 60 percent of the ballots counted have voted yes to Measure L in East Palo Alto, after this Tuesday, November 8 at 8:00 p.m., the Voting Centers in San Mateo County closed and the vote counting began.
According to the San Mateo County Clerk-Recorder's Office update on voting through November 10, 69.14 percent of the ballots counted were for Yes on Measure L, meaning 1,156 votes in favor, while 30.89 percent were for No, meaning 516 votes.
Measure L in East Palo Alto was on the ballot on November 8, 2022.
The ballot asked city residents to vote yes or no on raising East Palo Alto's business tax to 2.5 percent of gross receipts from all residential rental units.
So far, the measure has been approved, and with it the commercial tax for owners of rental housing went from 1.5 to 2.5 percent, in addition to eliminating the payment exemption for owners with five or fewer rental units.
It should be noted that the tax cannot be passed on to tenants.
The approximately $2 million annually raised from this levy would go toward funding affordable housing programs, providing rental assistance to tenants, and protecting local residents from displacement and homelessness.
Officials say the estimated number of ballots still to be processed by November 9 is more than 135,000 countywide, as mail-in ballots received on Saturday, November 5 through Election Day and the days following have not yet been counted. This means that election night results may differ from the final count.
The results include those vote-by-mail ballots received in the mail on or before Friday, November 4, those returned to Vote Centers and Drop Boxes by that same date, and all ballots from Vote Centers.
Voter turnout is low, with only 28.2 percent of voters exercising their right to vote.
The office highlights that of the 432,707 voters who were registered, only 122,135 participated, of which 106,626 did so by mail and 15,509 at Voting Centers.
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