San Benito County votes: Slow growth grand slam

Measure A, which would put land use designation decisions in the hands of San Benito County voters, is projected to pass with 54.08% of the vote as of Nov. 6. The No on A campaign garnered 45.92% with 40.71% of the votes counted.

The ballot question for Measure A asked voters to amend the county General Plan “to require voter approval before re-designating (changing) Agricultural, Rural or Rangeland to other uses, and to remove the Commercial Regional Designation from four Highway 101 nodes.” 

The initiative was spearheaded by the Campaign to Protect San Benito, an environmental activist group formerly known as Protect Our Rural Communities (PORC). 

Mary Hsia-Coron, the treasurer for Campaign to Protect San Benito-Yes on A, said in a phone call Wednesday that they were still cautiously optimistic. In 2022, the group was also behind Measure Q, a similar initiative that was ultimately defeated in the polls.

“Because of (Measure Q) two years ago, we just didn’t want to be too confident, so this is pretty much what we kind of expected,” Hsia-Coron said. “We knew it was going to be hard, because so many of the people we canvassed spoke to while we were canvassing were really confused.”

The No on A campaign was headed up by former San Benito County Supervisor Anthony Bothelo, president of Neighbors to Preserve San Benito. The same organization led the successful fight against Measure Q in 2022. 

The No campaign’s message centered around rejecting outsider influence and keeping land use decisions at the county level to protect property and business interests.

But the campaign welcomed big outsider money from the likes of the California Realtors Association, which poured close to $200,000 into the efforts. The Free Lance previously reported that $140,000 of the group’s donations were filed improperly under the defunct No on Q campaign from 2022.

Voting by the numbers

San Benito County skewed Democratic in the presidential race, with 53.4% of votes cast for Vice President Kamala Harris. Former President Donald J. Trump received 44.39% of the local vote. Voter turnout was at 40.71% for the Nov. 5 election, according to the latest polling data. As of the afternoon of Nov. 6, 15,352 ballots have been cast out of 37,711registered voters.