Breaking down the C-Tran tax vote

Remember all that subdistrict-or-no-subdistrict talk earlier this year? It may not have mattered.

Turns out, most of the Vancouver urban area said no to C-Tran’s sales tax increase in November anyway. So did every other city in C-Tran’s taxing district, according to a map showing the results of each precinct. Here’s a look at Vancouver (the measure passed in the lighter colored sections):

Overall, the measure failed by a margin of 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent. That’s 83,563 no votes against 64,299 yes votes.

The measure, on the ballot as Proposition 1, would have raised the local sales tax rate by 0.1 percentage point to help pay for light rail and bus rapid transit in Vancouver. Some C-Tran board members had pushed for a subdistrict vote in Vancouver only, suggesting the measure may have stood a better chance of success there. Better, yes, but still not enough to pass.

Several precincts did support Prop. 1, mainly on the city’s west end. The measure also found favor in a couple of areas along Fourth Plain. Does that suggest support for bus rapid transit, which would have landed along that corridor? Hard to say.

We can say this much: Yacolt was collectively not a fan of C-Tran’s Proposition 1. Almost 80 percent of voters there rejected it. Ouch.

Check out the interactive map for yourself, and click on a precinct to see results. And watch for Stevie Mathieu’s story this Sunday, which will break down the results of some the county’s more interesting (and closer) races.