I haven’t mentioned Dixon Downs in my blog for various reasons; mostly, it’s because I think I’m one of two people who live in Dixon that read my blog regularly (the other being my wife), but there’s also that little side of me which doesn’t like politics very much.  But I had to comment on the election results.

It looks like the citizens of Dixon voted down four municipal measures that would have allowed Magna Entertainment to build a racetrack in town.  The results are unofficial, but with a seven point lead and nine out of nine precincts counted, it would take a pretty impressive swing to turn that around.  Not impossible, but it would probably be suspicious.  From what I hear, it’s primarily the absentee and provisional ballots that need to be counted, and around here those tend to be voters on the more liberal side — the voters who are likely to vote No on Dixon Downs.

What impresses me about this vote is the money spent on it.  Magna Entertainment funded the "Yes on Dixon Downs" campaign with close to half a million dollars.  Dixon Citizens for Quality Growth funded the "No on Dixon Downs" campaign spent $24,000.  This surprises me, because I’m a tad cynical when it comes to politics, and I generally assume that the side with the most money — especially when the side has up to ten times the amount of money as the other side — will win, regardless of the message.  So even if the final vote count is in favor of Dixon Downs, I think this is still pretty impressive.

If these results hold, it won’t be the end of Dixon Downs, though.  They still own the big chunk of property that the race track is supposed to be built on, and they could still build it; but without the zoning changes that the four ballot measures would have allowed, it’s going to be a lot harder to do.

And me?  I voted no.