Santa Monica : Prop. T Victory in Doubt

A few thousand uncounted ballots could swing what Santa Monica College officials have cautiously declared as victory for Proposition T into failure.

The $23-million capital improvements bond measure on the Nov. 3 ballot needs a two-thirds or 66.67% vote to pass.

On Nov. 4, preliminary counts showed the measure winning with 67.2% of votes cast, prompting college officials to declare an early victory.

But the margin shrank as the county registrar-recorder’s office continued to tally absentee ballots. An update earlier this week showed a narrow lead of 66.92%, or about 120 votes.

About 60,000 absentee ballots countywide remain to be tallied, according to the registrar-recorder. Damaged and provisional ballots, cast when voters go to the wrong polling place, also need to be counted.

Another update is expected today. Official results will not be available until the week of Nov. 23.

College spokesman Bruce Smith said teachers and administrators are “holding their breath.”

“We think if the pattern holds, we’re still going to make it,” he said. “But we think it’s going to be very close.”