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If Lemoore voters had their way, Measure K would have easily been the law of the land
Unfortunately for Kings County, while the county’s other communities and the unincorporated areas, may have voted overwhelmingly for it, the final tallies just weren’t enough to push it over the top.
The county-wide public safety measure, which would have generated up to $4 million per year for local law enforcement and fire safety, needed 66.66 percent of the vote to pass. It garnered an impressive 64.97 county-wide, but it simply wasn’t enough.
Kings County Assessor and Elections Chief Kristine Lee said that despite the demise of Measure K, she was pleased with the turnout on election day. “I thought the election turnout was wonderful,” she said. “The voter registration for Kings County increased by about 3,600 voters, and then having over 67 percent turn out and vote was just great.”
She also said that more voters than ever are sending in their ballots by mail. “It seems that the vote by mail versus polling place population has been increasing, but this election was the highest yet with over 77 percent,” she said.
All four cities turned in impressive numbers, except for the county’s unincorporated area, where Measure K garnered just 59.33 percent of the vote, quite likely the major impediment to its successful passage.
While Lemoore led the way, Avenal’s voters also cleared the 66.66 threshold, coming in at 66.84 percent of the vote. Hanford barely missed the mark, its voters coming within an eyelash of approving the measure at 66.24 percent.
Most of Corcoran’s voters may have liked the measure, but only 64.75 percent of its voters cast their ballots for it.
Lemoore officials, while disappointed in the results, may have detected a silver lining in the disappointing county results. Within a six-month period, Lemoore voters twice overwhelmingly supported the measure, a fact not unnoticed by local officials.
“I was really encouraged by the solid support it got in Lemoore,” said Lemoore Police Chief Darrell Smith. Following the election, Smith said friends suggested we do it again. “I’ve had people approach me and ask when we’re going to do it again.”
In fact, prior to participating in November’s election, city officials discussed many options, one of which was to conduct Lemoore’s own public safety campaign. “Yes, that was one of the options,” said Smith. He said there seemed to be real interest due to the city’s impressive 72 percent showing in June.
Smith said at some point he might ask city leaders to take another look at a Lemoore-only public safety election. “I am disappointed with the overall outcome and results but very proud of our united effort to gain support for the measure,” he added.
“Again, Lemoore residents overwhelmingly supported the measure and I am grateful for their support. We hope to visit this again in some form within a couple of years, during the next council elections.”
If it had passed on Nov. 8, Measure K would have redirected an additional .25 percent sales tax revenue to a fund specifically earmarked for fire and police operations and infrastructure throughout Kings County. Local public safety officials estimated that Measure K would have generate up to $4 million annually.
Lemoore’s share of the more than $4 million expected to be raised by the passage of Measure K would have been roughly $675,000, all for public safety, to go to the police and fire department.
On election day in Lemoore, 4,471 residents voted for Measure K while 2,074 voted against. The largest turnout was in Hanford where the measure barely missed getting the 66.66 percent it needed. 10,113 voters cast ballots for the measure while 5,154 voted against it.
