Measure 92 Heading Towards Recount

Monday, November 24, 2014

GoLocalPDX News Team

"I've been a walking advertisement for months," says Robin White, an active supporter of Measure 92 at a rally on Nov. 4. Photo by Meghan Nolt

Oregon’s controversial Genetically Modified Organism-labeling ballot measure appeared to be headed for an automatic recount late Monday afternoon.

Just hours before the close of businesses, and votes from eight counties still yet to be tallied, Measure 92 appeared to be trailing by a few hundred votes.

“The math looks good,” Kevin Glenn, press secretary for the Yes on Measure 92 Campaign said. “We are going to make sure every vote is counted and be monitoring the process.”

According to Oregon statutes, if the vote is within 1/5th of 1 percent, an automatic recount is triggered. In this case, if the results are less than 2,900 votes, a recount is put into action.

Secretary of State spokesman Tony Green could not say if a recount was inevitable, but said that the vote’s final “unofficial count” would be in by 5 p.m. Monday.

“The race is very close, decision still up in air," Glenn said. "But we will do everything we can to get a victory.”

The No on 92 Campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If a recount occurred it would not start in earnest until next week, according to Green.

The last time there was a statewide recount was May of 2008, Green said.

“We don’t do them very often,” Green said.

The epic GMO campaign was already the most expensive in Oregon’s history when campaigners went into overdrive in the last several weeks. Pro-Measure 92 volunteers fanned out across the state after the vote count narrowed to 49 to 51 percent when the secretary of state’s office released the names of some 13,000 people who’s ballot had not be counted because of irregularities.

The 13,000 “challenged” ballots were seen as an opportunity to sway the elections. When all was said and done, however, Green estimated 9,000 ballots remained challenged.

“We talked to thousands of voter state wide and made it even closer,” Glenn said of the campaign to harvest challenged ballots.