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Recount Likely

The deadline for rounding up votes for Oregon’s Measure 92 has passed. The deadline for counting all outstanding votes, and reporting them to the Oregon Secretary of State, is Monday, November 24, 5 p.m. PST.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, November 22, the gap between YES and NO votes had dropped, again, to a nail biting-ly close 1,076 votes. Based on reliable estimates, there are enough outstanding votes that, if they go the right way, could still push us over the top.

Either way, unless the gap widens again, the vote is close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

Thanks to the herculean effort by the YES on 92 campaign—and your financial support—the campaign sent out hundreds of volunteers and supporters last week. Battling snow and ice and great odds, this dedicated army did a nothing-short-of-miraculous job of contacting voters whose ballots had been disqualified, and making sure those ballots were fixed, and those votes were counted.

Now, we wait for the final tally, which will be reported at the end of the day Monday, November 24.

But while we wait, the YES on 92 campaign staff is still working, preparing for the probability of a recount. The campaign will do everything in its power to make sure that the recount is conducted carefully, and fairly.

Win or lose in Oregon, it’s clear that Monsanto and Big Food are panicked. After all, we won the state GMO labeling battle in May, when Vermont passed H.112. And with stores like Whole Foods Market committed to labeling all of its 40,000 plus food and deli items, food manufacturers already face the prospect of a label that says “Contains GMOs” in stores all across the country.

Monsanto will continue to throw its weight around, by suing states that pass GMO labeling laws, and counties that pass GMO crop bans. And by buying off members of Congress to pass a law to override and preempt state GMO labeling laws.

But they are in for a long fight. Because consumers will not rest until every GMO-contaminated food product in this country is labeled.