Proposition L includes bans or moratoriums on officeconstruction in the Mission District, south of Market, Potrero Hilland Bayview-Hunters Point. The measure also limits officedevelopment in the city to 950,000-sf per year with exemptions forthe Presidio, Pier 70 and the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. It isbacked in part by activists concerned about dot-com office spaceincreasing area rents and displacing artists and nonprofit groupsfrom affordable spaces.

Elections Department spokeswoman Christiane Hayashi tellsGlobeSt.com that election workers have been working almost nonstopsince last Tuesday, counting more than 83,000 absentee ballots,sorting through ballots turned in at the wrong polling place andrecreating other ballots that were unreadable by the computerizedballot machine for one reason or another. Official daily updatesare scheduled for 4 p.m., with a preliminary final result expectedbefore Wednesday, says Hayashi. The election should be officiallycertified several days after that, but doesn't have to be untilDec. 5. Regardless, interested parties have five days to ask for arecount once the election has been certified.

If a recount is requested it would take place during a runoffelection for the county Board of Supervisors, which would meanlittle break for election workers in the near future. For thatreason, Hayashi is hoping the county's result verificationprocedures are enough to satisfy all interested parties. "We thinkthe certified results will be very accurate," she tells GlobeSt. Ifit continues to be defeated, the request won't come from MayorWillie Brown and his business community companions who spent morethan $2 million to see it defeated because they believe it couldcripple the local economy by not allowing workspace exemptions fornew or expanding companies. The mayor's alternative ballot measure,which provided such exemptions, was defeated 61% to 39%.