Don’t count your chickens…

It should be noted that, in spite of Tuesday night’s celebration by bond issue supporters, the proposal’s success is not guaranteed.

The bond issue  passed by 223 votes based on Tuesday night’s count, but provisional ballots have yet to be counted. According to Finney County Clerk Elsa Ulrich, the county has 259 provisional ballots from those voting in the county clerk’s office and 87 from the polls. Some of each are from Holcomb or the small portions of the county in other school districts, so they wouldn’t affect the bond issue. Still, there’s the small chance it would be defeated by those votes. More info here.

Canvassing is on Monday, so results will be finalized then.

I’ll continue this blog at least that long, and will tie up some loose ends regarding fallout from the results. Then, assuming provisional ballots don’t kill the thing, stay tuned in the Telegram and online for updates on the long process of constructing a new Garden City High School, converting GCHS to a middle school, converting Abe Hubert Middle School to an elementary school and expanding Garfield  Elementary School into an early childhood center.

Expected high school opening date: August 2012

Shock and awe

Well, the post title might be a little extreme, but at least great surprise — that’s what everybody I’ve talked to seems to be feeling following Tuesday’s passage of the USD 457 bond issue. All sorts of people I encountered yesterday seemed to expect before Election Day that the issue wouldn’t get the voter support it needed, especially following the recent economic downturn.

Did the fact that the issue was on a general election ballot, at a time of record voter turnout, make the difference? I admit, I thought it would hurt the district’s cause.

It seemed to me bond supporters would be able to mobilize their “yes” voters, in general, no matter when the item was on the ballot. But the presidential election, I thought, would draw out a lot of people who were uninformed or just didn’t care. They’d see a measure that would increase their taxes and, not having strong thoughts on the proposal itself, would reject it.

Some others thought differently, however, with board member John Scheopner saying he thinks the timing helped put the measure over the top. The presidential race drew out a lot of younger voters — folks who might have kids in school or at least be thinking about having children soon.

Were you surprised the bond issue passed? What factors helped give it the narrow win?