Slow-Growth Count Hits a Head Wind

Wednesday’s wind storm temporarily knocked out electricity to the county registrar of voters office just as it was checking more than 96,000 signatures ordering the Citizens’ Sensible Growth and Traffic Control initiative on the June ballot.

Computers used in the check were not working for more than three hours, according to Registrar Donald F. Tanney. The outcome will not be announced until today, Tanney said.

“If the early numbers hold throughout the entire sample, then I think it would pass,” he said. “But the numbers I have are not big enough to have a final trend.”

Random samples of signatures are being checked against the list of registered voters. Sponsors need about 65,000 signatures to get the slow-growth initiative on the ballot. It would limit development based on traffic levels and emergency response times.