Rarity: Measure 92 hand ballot recount underway

It was Oregon’s most expensive ballot measure. After months of campaigning and countless TV ads, we still don’t know if the labeling of genetically modified organisms will be legally required in Oregon or not.

Of 1.5 million votes statewide, the no vote lead by only 809 votes. It’s a 0.06% difference.

“The state is required to do a recount of Measure 92 because it was within the one half of one percent required by state law for an automatic recount,” Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship said Tuesday.

A statewide recount has not happened since 2008.

“This is the second statewide recount in the 12 years that I’ve been here,” Blankenship said.

Nearly a month after the election, the 36 counties started their recount on Tuesday.

“We started to go through all of the precincts and count them,” Blankenship said.

While the margin separating the yes and no vote is paper-thin on a statewide level, it is much clearer in Deschutes County: 47 percent voted yes while 53 percent voted no.

That’s a difference of 4,500 votes, but with just 809 votes difference statewide, every single vote counts.

“And we verify that the tabulation count was correct. If not, then there are going to be some minor adjustments, whatever those were,” Blankenship said.

Blankenship estimates the recount in Deschutes County will be completed by Wednesday, but Oregonians still have to wait a little longer to find out the results. The deadline for the statewide recount is Dec. 12.