[420 Girl]

Ukiah, CA - After six months of forums, discussions, political mailers and vigorous, and sometimes vociferous, debate, Mendocino County voters finally had the opportunity to say their piece on the future of the county's marijuana policy.

With 100 percent of the precincts reporting at 12:35 a.m. Wednesday, Measure B was winning 52.15 percent to 47.85 percent. The Elections Office recorded a 34.94 percent turnout for the election and counted 16,436 ballots.

Provisional ballots remain to be counted.

"We're very confident that we're going to win," Ross Liberty, spokesman for the Yes on B Coalition, said earlier in the evening.

Measure B repeals Measure G, the county's personal use marijuana law, and sets medical marijuana possession limits in Mendocino County at the state limits of six mature or 12 immature plants and eight ounces of dried marijuana.

Measure G was passed by county voters in 2000 and instructed law enforcement to make the prosecution of possession of 25 marijuana plants or fewer the lowest possible priority.

No on B campaign spokeswoman Laura Hamburg said early in the evening that she was optimistic and excited about the results despite the fact that initial reports showed Measure B passing by a margin of more than 10 percent of the vote.

"The early results are always brutal," she said. "It's the most conservative group."

While the measure appeared to be passing from the earliest returns, Liberty said he was disappointed with the margin. Liberty said a poll conducted before Measure B was put on the ballot showed it passing with 65 percent of the vote.

"That's my personal belief of where we were before we started," he said.

Liberty said even if Measure B ended up passing by a narrow margin, he would still be happy with the victory.

"It's important to win," he said.

"We will all have done a great disservice to this county if we lose," Liberty said.

As the evening wore on, Yes on B maintained its almost 11 percent lead, though it eventually narrowed to around 5 percent.

Hamburg said no matter what the results of the election were, it would be counted as a victory by No on B because the campaign had created a dialogue about marijuana in Mendocino County.

"What happens tonight is just one slice of it," she said.

Liberty acknowledged that the fight over Measure B had been a divisive campaign and that a dialogue between the groups would be good.

"We have more common ground than we tended to acknowledge during the campaign," he said.

Hamburg said representatives of both campaigns as well as public health and other county entities would be meeting soon to discuss what can be done to deal with the crime and environmental degradation that often surrounds illegal marijuana grows.

"The whole county says no to that," she said.

All results from election night are unofficial. The definitive results will not be released until a canvas of the votes is completed, which could take up to 28 days.

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