SEQUIM — As a $49.3 million Sequim School District construction bond teeters on the edge of a supermajority after a final vote count, there may yet be enough outstanding ballots to nudge the measure to victory, supporters say.
According to Friday’s final count of votes in Tuesday’s all-mail general election, approval fell 0.45 percentage points short of a 60 percent supermajority — the minimum threshold required for passage.
“It ain’t over until it’s over,” said Brandino Gibson, Citizens for Sequim Schools vice president.
“We are less than probably 50 votes out, so who knows what happens? We are not calling it until they certify it.”
The bond had 7,139 yes votes, or 59.55 percent, to 4,849 no votes, or 40.45 percent.
The count of 8,935 late-arriving ballots is the last the Clallam County Auditor’s Office will do before
Nov. 24, when the election is certified.
However, about 300 ballots with signature issues are not being added to the official tally at this time, and if they are, it won’t be until Nov. 24, said Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs.
Riggs’ staff is attempting to contact those voters with challenged ballots.
They can “still come in and give us an updated signature or, if their signature was missing, they can still come in and sign those so that we can have their signature and give them credit,” she said.
“They can do that right up until the day before canvassing.”
Colleen Robinson, Citizens for Sequim Schools president, said Friday that supporters remain optimistic the bond will pass.
“We are very, very close, so we are hopeful that on Nov. 24, it will pass and it will be ratified,” she said.
“If it is not, we will be back at it again, and we will be asking again, and we will keep asking until it does pass the threshold majority of 60 percent.”
In addition to the 300 challenged ballots, another 32 ballots have been sent directly to the canvassing board for determination of voter intent due to inconsistencies, Riggs said.
Those may or may not be added to the tally.
Another source of new ballots will be those that may still be in the mail from registered voters not presently on the North Olympic Peninsula, such as active-duty members of the military, she said.
Riggs did not know how many of the outstanding ballots originate from the Sequim School District.
The auditor’s office has counted 22,696 ballots out of 47,509 mailed to registered voters as of Friday for a turnout of 47.7 percent, Riggs said.
Votes on the bond were cast by eligible voters living in the Sequim School District in both Jefferson and Clallam counties; Jefferson’s final count was Thursday and Clallam’s Friday.
In Jefferson County, the bond garnered 90 yes votes, or 56.96 percent, to 68 no votes, or 43.04 percent.
In Clallam County, the bond garnered 7,049 yes votes, or 59.59 percent, to 4,781 no votes, or 40.41 percent.
Some left blank
Of the 11,830 ballots counted in Clallam County from the Sequim School District, the school bond item was left blank on 741, meaning voters did not vote yes or no, Riggs said Friday.
Similar statistics about the 158 votes counted in Jefferson County were not available Friday.
“I think part of the issue is that the ballot was so large and all those initiatives were on the front,” Robinson said.
“I think people just got tired or got frustrated or didn’t flip it over and didn’t go all the way through.”
What it will do
If approved, the bond will be used to renovate and expand Greywolf Elementary, build a new school, renovate Helen Haller to house Olympic Peninsula Academy — for alternative education — renovate and expand Sequim High School, demolish a Sequim Community School building and upgrade the district kitchen and maintenance facility.
The bond also would fund a new science wing of six laboratory classrooms at Sequim High and add band, orchestra and choir rooms to the performing arts wing.
Music students currently must cross the street to attend classes in the former Sequim Community School.
Two previous attempts to pass a construction bond failed.
Voters defeated a $154 million measure by a 56 percent-44 percent margin in April 2014.
A $49.2 million bond last February received 6,691 yes votes to 5,026 no votes — 57.11 percent to 42.89 percent — but fell short of the required 60 percent supermajority.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
