votebuttonjpgTHUMBJamestown (CSi) Following the vote canvass,  Monday, at the Jamestown Public School Board meeting, the $19 million Jamestown Public School’s referendum special election vote is official.

Stutsman County Auditor and Chief Operating Officer Casey Bradley presented four rejected ballots to the school board for review. Two were rejected and two were accepted by an 8-0 board vote.

One ballot was left in a voting booth, issued to the voter, who voted “yes,” but didn’t put the ballot in the box. The auditor’s recommendation was for the board to accept the ballot.

A second ballot was rejected for having both a “yes” and “no” vote check, Bradley said. The auditor’s office recommended the board reject the ballot.

An absentee ballot that was a “yes” vote but received a day after the election had a postmark prior to September 29, 2015. The auditor’s office recommended that the board accept the vote as legitimate.

A second absentee ballot was received on October 1, 2015, without a postmark. The auditor recommended the board reject the ballot.

The board approved or rejected the ballots according to the recommendations of the auditor.

Board member Greg Allen was not present for the vote on the ballots but was present for the rest of the meeting.

The result of two accepted ballots put the total number of ballots at 1,953, with 1,140 yes votes, and 813 no votes.

The percentage split becomes 58.37 percent and still short of the 60 percent needed to pass and not within the 0.25 percent of 1 percent to trigger an automatic recount.

The board approved a certificate of levy as it stood prior to the referendum that was voted down in the special election.

The approved preliminary budget for the 2015-2016 school year does not include anything from the referendum.

　

　

　

　

　

　

to expand and improve four elementary schools in Jamestown may have failed due to a lack of a centerpiece project, according to some Jamestown Public School Board members at the Monday meeting.

　

“The timing (of the referendum) wasn’t great for a lot of reasons,” said Superintendent Rob Lech.

The board agreed for Lech to form a series of stakeholder groups from the community, schools and other sectors to offer feedback on how to move forward. The School Board would be present as a representative to ask or answer questions, Lech said, and the groups would also include Chris Gibbs of DLR Group, the project designer.

People need to see that in the short term the school district can manage but that in the long term these are real concerns about growth and facilities that need to be addressed, Lech said. People need to connect with something, he said, and understand what improving learning spaces mean.

“People don’t see the (student growth) projections as tangible yet,” Lech said.

Board member Mindi Schmitz said the little details being discussed at the meeting didn’t amount much in this loss. She attributed the loss to the lack of a flagship project that would excite voters to get out there and vote yes or no.

“When we do this again we have to go for the gusto,” Schmitz said. “We need something that generates excitement and air conditioning didn’t excite anybody. We have to have a new strategy.”

Board member Bob Toso said the district didn’t get enough people out to vote. It wasn’t from lack of effort, he said, but that it is disappointing that not as many turned out as did for the vote on the Two Rivers Activity Center.

“I think it was just as important a project, and we had a larger pool (of voters) to draw from,” Toso said.

Board member Terry Anderson said the low turnout might have been from having three elections in a relatively short period of time.

“It is good that a majority of voters were in favor and voted yes,” said School Board Vice President Heidi Larson.

Having to follow a 60 percent approval for an education bond levy was disappointing with a close vote and so many people involved with the process, she said.

　

　

Bradley said the county was using demonstration software that checked the number of voters coming in against the North Dakota driver’s license database. It resulted in a discrepancy of 14 ballots against the total number of voters.

When the ballots were hand counted the number matched the receipts of the number of voters, Bradley said. There was no actual discrepancy except with the software.

For a special election Bradley said the absentee and early voting turnout was low, but higher than expected on the say of the special election.

During the board retreat following the meeting, board members discussed the feedback from the public on the referendum.

A disabled resident said she was not sure she’d be able to access the Civic Center that had just been used for the rodeo, said board member Diane Hanson.

Board President Roger Haut said he hadn’t heard any negative comments on the referendum.

Larson said she read the ballot to check for confusing wording that might make someone vote no when they meant yes, or vice versa.

Some people thought they weren’t eligible to vote in the district. Others were concerned that a school expansion would result in a traffic problem.

The board approved a certificate of levy as it stood prior to the referendum that was voted down in the special election on Sept. 29. The approved preliminary budget for the 2015-2016 school year does not include anything from the referendum, said Sally Ost, school district business manager and human resources director.