San Jose Tax Counting Every Vote November 18, 2008 Joseph Bishop-Henchman Joseph Bishop-Henchman San Jose, California’s Measure B went before voters earlier this month, proposing a 1/8-cent sales tax increase to fund operations of a proposed extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. On the day after the election, though, it looked like Measure B would fall just short with only 66.3% of the vote. Counting of absentee and provisional ballots has continued, and that percentage has slowly inched up. It looks like many of these ballots split 70-30 for the tax, and today the running total crossed the two-thirds threshold, 407,932 to 203,954. That’s only 8 votes above the two-thirds requirement threshold. 9800 ballots still need to be counted. For the past few days when it looked like the tax had failed, news articles and op-eds generally talked about how proponents just hadn’t made a compelling enough case. Discussions began about a scaled down project that the public might approve. There’s nothing inherently magical about 50%-plus-one, and Californians seem to treat their supermajority requirement as just another hurdle that taxes must survive before they can be imposed. Stay informed on the tax policies impacting you. Subscribe to get insights from our trusted experts delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe Share Tweet Share Email Topics California Sales Taxes Tags State Tax and Spending Policy