TRUCKEE/TAHOE, Calif. — Measure A supporters are expressing guarded optimism after Tuesday night's unofficial 1 percent voter victory, but with hundreds of ballots still being counted in Nevada and Placer counties, hopes could be short-lived.

Donna Morgan, Measure A's Campaign chair, said she hopes the measure holds; assuming it does, she intends to continue the campaign on a smaller scale to keep people aware of the measure, which, if approved, would be renewed and increased from $98 per year to $135 for the next seven years for the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District, starting in the 2012-'13 school year.

Morgan said public awareness was a huge hurdle to overcome during this election because it had been so long since the last renewal (2005, when it was approved by about 75 percent of TTUSD voters).

“Anytime you do something like this, obviously the climate changes from year to year,” Morgan said. “We always need to keep it at the forefront of people's mind so that we don't have to re-educate people the next time.”

Morgan thanked everyone for their many hours of service backing the measure.

“It was an amazing community effort, there's no doubt about it,” she said.

On the opposing side of Measure A, Truckee resident Dennis Lynch said he isn't confident in the results. He said it would be regrettable if the measure passes because it will continue to burden homeowners to pay for the renewal.

“It's 1 percent — I don't know that it's a done deal, but personally I'm ready to deal with whatever happens,” Lynch said. “However, it's not a win to me until the last vote is counted.”

Lynch said he still stands by his “No on A” position. Should the measure pass, he said it will only set a precedent forcing taxpayers to continue paying for schooling, with no end in sight.

“I'll bet you'll see in a couple years that there's going to be a measure B or a measure R,” he said. “It never ends”

Why the delay? An election spokeswoman from Nevada County said there are still roughly 600 ballots to count for the parcel tax. She said the county anticipates a final tally to arrive by Friday, March 11. A spokeswoman for Placer County said a final tally of its outstanding votes could come as early as Monday; however, the total amount still to be counted remains unknown. The reason for the delay, according to Placer County, is due to a California election code requirement that mandates the confirmation of votes via a manual hand count. The manual count focuses on 1 percent of a county precinct's automated count, with the intent to ensure accuracy. In other words, while the majority of the votes counted Tuesday night were done electronically, the final 1 percent are counted by hand. Furthermore, once all the votes have been counted, precinct-by-precinct voting results will be made available.

More reaction

In the meantime, while supporters hold their breath and anti-Measure A voters likely hope for a last-minute comeback, school district officials have been crunching numbers. Based on voting trends Tuesday night, TTUSD Superintendent Steve Jennings said he anticipates a victory.

“There would have to be a very significant change in the voting pattern for it not to be a victory for us,” Jennings said.

Assuming the measure passes, Jennings said it will go into effect for the 2012-13 school year, and its spending will be transparent.

“One of the interesting things that came out of the campaign was accountability,” Jennings said. “One of the things we will be doing is making sure the accountability is more available to the public.”

Jennings said one way to accomplish this will be to publish Measure A's total funding online, as well as where it is spent.

In the event the measure doesn't pass, Jennings said the idea of petitioning Placer, Nevada and El Dorado counties for a recount has not been discussed, nor will it be dismissed.

“We haven't considered it at this point,” Jennings said. “We'll take a look at what the situation is, how many votes it will be either way.”

TTUSD school board Trustee Kim Szczurek, who's taking a short vacation in Arizona, said she couldn't sleep all night while voting was taking place.

“I literally didn't sleep all night and was wondering how we we're going to deal with that if the measure failed,” Szczurek said.

Like Jennings, she said she anticipates the measure will pass.

“I'm so relieved and happy and ready to move forward,” Szczurek said.

Considering the school district's budget and the state's precarious finances, trustee Gaylan Larson said Measure A couldn't be more needed at such a critical time.

“I'm personally relieved — (it failing) would have caused us to create a lot of uncomfortable contingency plans,” he said. “It makes my otherwise stressful life a little less stressful.”