We received some great news last week. Four out of five of our ballot measures have already qualified for the November 2020 ballot, and the fifth one is on track to qualify but will take until January to complete.
The county informed us that so many of you signed our petitions to reform Oxnard City Hall that they were able to certify four of the petitions based just on examining random samples of 500 signatures.
Based on the samples alone, the county tells us those four petitions each had 110% or more of the number required – one had nearly 120%!
Without delving into statistical theory, we so vastly exceed 100% that the county doesn't need to examine the rest.
To confirm that we have sufficient signatures for the fifth measure – its sample projected only 108.7% of the required number – the county will examine all of those signatures by the end of January. We’re not worried. Our local statistician is 99.5% confident that the fifth measure will also be certified.
After we received the news, the Oxnard City Council agenda was quickly amended so that on Tuesday night, December 17 the city council will make an important choice: Adopt those four measures as law, order they be placed on the November ballot, or have city staff conduct a 30-day internal study before placing them on the ballot.
Interestingly, the agenda was also amended to consider initiating a lawsuit, so some speculate the City Council might also decide to sue us again to fight this, just as they did back in 2016 with Measure M, our initiative to repeal the City’s 87% sewer rate increase. (You may recall that case didn't go very well for them. They lost at the trial court, but they're appealing that loss.)
Of course, based on past experience, it no longer surprises us when the City of Oxnard takes actions to undermine the rights of its citizens.
In fact, stay tuned because soon we plan to share with you more about what the city is doing to fight these reform initiatives!
UPDATE: On January 13, 2020 the county announced that our fifth measure also had enough signatures to qualify!
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