South County voters who have not yet mailed their ballots for
the library parcel tax election should arrange to drop them by the
Registrar of Voter
’s office in San Jose.
South County voters who have not yet mailed their ballots for the library parcel tax election should arrange to drop them by the Registrar of Voter’s office in San Jose.
The deadline is 8pm Tuesday. A May 3 postmark is not sufficient. It is possible, but not certain, for ballots catching the Saturday morning post to reach the Registrar by Tuesday. Voters can also vote directly at the Registrar’s office, 1555 Berger Drive, Bldg. 2, 8am-5pm Monday and 8am-8pm Tuesday.
To reach the office, drive north on Hwy. 101, exit at Oakland Road (near the Hwy 880 interchange), go towards 13th Street, turn right on Oakland Road, then left on Berger Drive.
Results will be posted either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Ballots can be dropped off at the Registrar’s office in San Jose until the deadline. The Registrar urges voters to read the instructions carefully and be sure to sign the envelope.
The ballot contains Measures A and B, which would assess property taxes to fund the nine libraries in the county system, including those in Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
Measure A would extend for 10 years an annual $33.66 parcel tax and Measure B would levy an additional $12 annually. Measure B can not pass if Measure A fails.
The registrar sent out 212,331 ballots earlier this month. About 65,000 had been returned by Friday.
This is the second time the county library system has asked voters to extend the tax, which would raise $5.4 million and cover about 20 percent of the system’s budget. In March 2004, a measure fell six percentage points shy of the required two-thirds majority.
To prevent the parcel tax from expiring the library joint powers authority decided to spend $1.8 million to host a special election rather than place the measures on the consolidated ballot in November where, campaign officials say, it could again be overwhelmed by many other initiative requests.
Registrar: Website: www.sccvote.org/ E-mail: re*******@********ov.org or call 1-866-430-VOTE (8683).
Gilroy Dispatch reporter Matt King can be reached at mk***@************ch.com or 847-7240.
