SAN FRANCISCO — Opponents of a ballot measure to expand the Bay Area's subway system into the Silicon Valley are mulling a recount now that the initiative has squeaked to victory three weeks after election day.
A two-thirds majority of Santa Clara County voters -- 66.67% -- was needed to pass local Measure B, which would raise the sales tax 0.125 of a cent to pay for running and maintaining Bay Area Rapid Transit trains along 16.1 miles of track proposed for the region.
On Friday, the Santa Clara County registrar of voters said that the measure was 0.11 percentage points ahead of the two-thirds needed and that there were so few uncounted ballots left that victory was all but assured.
Although election results will not be certified until next Tuesday, supporters of the $6.1-billion BART expansion through San Jose popped the corks on bottles of California sparkling wine Friday and celebrated a transit fix that they view as being critical to the congested region's economy and quality of life.
"The passage of Measure B -- the BART initiative -- during the worst economic time in our lifetime underscores that Silicon Valley residents have the vision to bet on and build for our future," said Carl Guardino, president and chief executive of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, as well as the campaign's leader.
Not so fast, opponents said Tuesday, when the remaining votes were finally tallied and the registrar put the measure ahead with a "very close" 66.78% of the vote.
"We are assessing our options with respect to a recount," said Margaret Okuzumi, spokeswoman for the No on Measure B effort.
A recount can be requested up to five days after the vote is certified.
Okuzumi's group has yet to request one, she said, and the registrar's office must still give the organization a cost estimate for the process.
Okuzumi's group opposed the tax to extend BART to the San Jose area in part because of fears that the project would suck critical transportation dollars away from other services, such as existing bus and train routes.
But they are considering a recount because "it seems strange that the provisionals would be putting [the measure] over the top," Okuzumi said, referring to the 30,000 ballots that were counted last.
Provisional ballots must be authenticated by election workers because they are cast in unusual circumstances. A voter may have asked for a mail-in ballot and then shown up at a polling place without it. Or a voter may have gone to the wrong precinct.
