I can't believe I'm writing this.
The pickleball saga may have split the City of Ojai perfectly in half.
Hello readers!
Did you make it through my 6,000 words on pickleball? If so, bless you.
Now, I must share a few more: as of Tuesday, Nov. 19th, Measure O — The Ojai Pickleball Act — is behind by TWO VOTES. The count is still ongoing. If approved, pickleball play would resume at Ojai City Hall.
Yes, TWO VOTES.
The No on O campaign, led by Karin Quimby, has thus far garnered 2,094 votes. The Yes campaign, led by passionate pickleballer Tim Krout, has earned 2,092.
That’s according to the Ventura County Clerk and Recorder’s Office. And, according to the Clerk’s office, (approximately) 2,336 Ventura County ballots are yet to be counted. There may well be Ojai votes in that bunch of unprocessed ballots. Or not.
We can’t know how many more votes to expect, but I went back to our last presidential election years for a rough sense. In 2020, 4,487 Ojaians voted in the mayoral race (the only city-wide race that year). In 2016, that number was 3,989. Thus far, the Ventura County Clerk’s office has 4,186 votes on the pickleball matter — compared to 4,161 votes in the mayoral race. (Presumptive Ojai Mayor Andy Gilman won 2,681 votes to Michelle Pineiro’s 1,480).
The next update from the clerk’s office will come tomorrow, Nov. 21st at 4 p.m.
I have three thoughts:
Never let anyone convince you that your vote doesn’t matter.
I’ve thought a lot about tribalism and us vs. them dynamics as it relates to our elections and political system. I wonder if we are actually ideologically split 50/50, or if humans enjoy this dynamic. I invite readers to argue this idea with me in the comments!
Reality is always, always stranger than fiction.
I’ll keep you posted…
How is it that more people voted on pickleball than voted for mayor at this point?