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 exactly 8:00 p.m., the Voting Centers in San Mateo County closed and the counting of votes began.
According to the update of the San Mateo County Clerk-Recorder's Office, regarding the voting up to this November 10, 69.14 percent of the ballots computed were for a Yes to Measure L, which means 1,156 votes in favor, while 30.89 percent were for No, 516 votes.
Measure L in East Palo Alto was on the ballot on November 8, 2022.
The ballot asked city residents for a yes or no vote to support increasing East Palo Alto's business tax to 2.5 percent of the gross receipts of all residential rental units.
So far, the measure has been approved, and with it the commercial tax for rental property owners has gone 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 assessment would go toward funding affordable housing programs, helping renters rent, and protecting local residents from displacement and homelessness.
The authorities specify that the estimated number of ballots that remain to be processed as of November 9 are more than 135 thousand throughout the county, since the mail-in ballots that were received on Saturday, November 5 until Election Day and the Subsequent days have not yet been counted. This means that election night results may be different from the final count.
Results include those vote-by-mail ballots received by mail on or before Friday, November 4, those by mail returned at Vote Centers and Drop Boxes on or before that date, and all ballots from Vote Centers.
Electoral participation shows low figures, since it is reported that only 28.2 percent of the electorate complied with their right to vote.
The office highlights that of the 432,707 registered voters, only 122,135 participated, of these, 106,626 did so by mail and 15,509 in Voting Centers.
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