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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The contentious Measure U — an countywide advisory vote on whether to rename Kelseyville to Konocti — cost Lake County no more than $4,000, according to the Registrar of Voters, nearly four months after the November election.
After consolidating all expenses, the 2024 General Election in Lake County totaled $237,807.99, excluding labor, Registrar of Voters Maria Valadez said in an interview at her office on Thursday.
Valadez said this amount covered costs for official ballots, sample ballots, postage, publication, services, supplies and printing.
Measure U accounted for $3,931.50 of that total, including $3,113.58 for additional sample booklet pages and $819.99 for translation services. No additional labor costs were incurred, Valadez said.
“That is the only over-and-above cost,” Valadez said, emphasizing that no extra postage or miscellaneous expenses were added.
“The election was going to happen regardless of Measure U,” she explained. “The question is always — how much more does Measure U cost?”
Valadez provided collated tables of bills detailing election costs, including expenses for all 16 ballot types across nine election districts.
She pointed to two financial differences between having and not having Measure U.
First, under California Election Code 10520, each district must reimburse the county for the actual costs of running an election in its jurisdiction. Since Measure U was on all ballots countywide, it changed how costs were distributed among districts compared to an election without it.
Second, Measure U itself added $3,931.50 to the overall cost. Without it, the election would have cost $233,876.49, Valadez said. Measure U increased the cost by 1.68%.
Valadez emphasized that while Measure U affected cost distribution among districts, it only increased the total election cost by $3,931.50.
In terms of labor, Valadez said that 3,400 hours of work was dedicated specifically to the election.
“So the hours worked for extra help and permanent hours did not increase because Measure U was on the ballot,” she said. “The hours are that for all elections, no matter what.”
Regarding the finalized cost of Measure U, Valadez said it ended up being less than $50,000, which was the maximum amount she previously had estimated it would cost.
Valadez: ‘Measure U cost the county $50,000’ was a misunderstanding
On July 31, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to place the renaming of Kelseyville to Konocti before voters.
This was the board’s first and only collective action on the matter after the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, often referred to as the BGN, requested a recommendation 2024, following an October 2023 application of the name change from the local group Citizens for Healing.
During the contentious three-hour meeting, supervisors asked Valadez about the potential costs of adding the countywide measure to the ballot.
Based on past experience, Valadez said at that time that she estimated it to cost no more than $50,000. The figure was then repeated throughout the meeting, but Valadez was not given the opportunity to offer further clarification.
After that meeting, Valadez told Lake County News that standalone elections can run around $250,000. However, since there was already an election in November, the advisory measure itself would be folded into that election, hence lowering the cost, she said.
The figure of $50,000 was not only repeated during the special board meeting, but also referred to in following meetings about the name change and circulated on social media when people discussed the cost of Measure U.
For Valadez, that has been a misunderstanding that needs clarification.
“I said it shouldn’t cost more than $50,000; I never said it was going to cost $50,000. I was just providing an estimate,” Valadez said. “At that time, I didn’t know how many districts were actually going to the election and until that happens, you don’t know what the actual election cost is.”
Measure U went on the Nov. 5 ballot as an advisory measure. A "yes” vote on the measure supported the Board of Supervisors recommending approval of the town name from Kelseyville to Konocti whereas a “no” vote opposes it.
More than 70% of voters said “no” in the election. However, in a December Board of Supervisor meeting, supervisors voted 3-2 to recommend the name change and sent out a formal letter of recommendation to the BGN.
Ultimately, dislike of Measure U has been a common point of agreement among both supporters and opponents of the name change.
Supporters of the name change argued that it should be a moral decision, not determined by a majority vote. Opponents contended that the vote was a waste of time and money if the Board of Supervisors would not respect the results.
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at
