Measure P ballot language is wrong. Fresno City Council will decide how to correct it

The Fresno City Council will hold a special meeting on Monday to correct a mistake by the City Clerk’s office on the ballot language of Measure P.

During Monday’s meeting, the council will consider whether to approve a contract and expenditure to print and mail correction notices to voters for the Measure P ballot language.

The council in August unanimously voted to put Measure P on the ballot after the Fresno for Parks gathered 35,000 signatures in over the summer months to qualify.

Measure P proposes a 3/8-cent sales tax that will raise about $38 million annually for 30 years to fund Fresno’s parks as well as arts programs.

Council President Esmeralda Soria said the City Clerk’s Office informed her office of the error. “The language submitted to the Fresno County Clerk by the city was not the final version unanimously approved by the Fresno City Council,” she said in a statement.

The special meeting on Monday was called to provide transparency to the public and mitigate the error, she said, adding she hopes the notices would be sent to voters as soon as possible.

Councilman Steve Brandau, who represents District 2, said he believes it was an honest mistake. “This is on us, “ he said. “We should try and correct it.”

Juan Arambula, a co-chair for the Yes on P campaign, called on Mayor Lee Brand to “take a leadership role in correcting this mistake that his administration created.”

“Mistakes happen,” Arambula said, “but I hope people own up to them and do everything they can to correct the mistake.”

Brand noted that’s not the way the city charter works, and the city clerk works for the council, not the mayor’s administration. “We don’t think it’s wise to compound one mistake with another,” he said.

Larry Powell, also the co-chair for Yes on P, said he wants voters to have complete information on the measure so they can make an informed decision. “This was not a thing we ever anticipated having to think about,” he said.

Brandi Orth, Fresno County’s registrar of voters, said her office received the resolution and ballot question from the city the day after the council vote. “That was executed by the City Council and certified by the city,” she said. “That was perfectly correct.”

Orth said the ballot sent to voters is valid, and any ballots already returned will be counted.

“I have no knowledge of what the City Council’s intent was,” she said. “The correct legal document that was certified was given to us, and we did our job.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2018 at 3:56 PM.