A buyer’s excise tax on homes and other real estate to pay for farm conservation in Clallam County appeared headed for defeat Tuesday night.
With 57.4 percent of received ballots counted, the opponents of Proposition 1 were ahead 60.6 percent to 39.4 percent.
No votes totaled 8,131, with 5,283 votes in favor of the proposed one-half of 1 percent buyer’s tax.
The county Auditor’s Office will continue the ballot count on Thursday.
Tuesday’s count consisted of 13,624 mail-in ballots of the 23,741 returned so far and included Port Angeles ballots received through Friday and from the rest of the county through last Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, 10,117 ballots had been received and had yet to be counted — and several thousand more were expected in the mail today.
Ballots had to be postmarked on or before Tuesday.
The campaign for and against the tax was both contentious and expensive.
Combined, more than $180,000 was raised by both sides by the end of October, with much of that money coming from state and national real estate trade groups that opposed the proposed buyer’s tax.
The measure’s opposition was spearheaded by real estate agents who campaigned with the slogan, “Stop Taxing the American Dream.”
“I don’t think people are against saving the farms,” said Marguerite Glover, one of organizers against Prop. 1.
“I think it’s just that it was perceived as a Sequim issue, and it was seen as an unfair way to save the farms.”
Supporters hold out hope
Supporters held out hope that Tuesday’s vote totals did not include what they felt would be a strong showing from the Sequim-Dungeness Valley area.
“I don’t know what to say at this point,” said Nash Huber, a Sequim organic farmer who was one of the main promoters of the buyer’s excise tax.
“We kind of expected Sequim to give us a strong vote, and Port Angeles — we were hoping to break even in PA.”
If the remaining votes are to give the measure the needed boost, it will have to have overwhelming support in the uncounted ballots — at least in the 65 percent range, according to a PDN analysis.
