SEQUIM –– Almost a fifth of the ballots sent to registered voters in the Sequim School District’s $154 million bond election had been returned by the end of last week.
Clallam County voters in the school district returned 4,550 of the 21,578 ballots issued.
Jefferson County voters in the district returned 84 of 273 ballots.
Combined, the two counties have received 4,634 ballots, or 19.9 percent of the ballots mailed to voters.
Ballots were mailed to voters in Clallam and Jefferson counties April 2.
They will not be counted until after 8 p.m. election night, April 22.
Ballots must be deposited in a county dropbox by 8 p.m., or postmarked on or before April 22.
Results are expected to be officially certified May 6.
Cape Flattery levy
In the Cape Flattery School District, more than 15 percent of ballots had been returned in the district’s request for a four-year $375,000 maintenance-and-operations levy.
Cape Flattery voters had returned 173 of 1,149 ballots by Friday.
The levy request, a $25,000 increase from the 2012-14 levy of $350,000 that expires in December, requires a simple majority to pass.
It would be used to pay for services not entirely covered by state and federal funding, such as school nurse services, building maintenance, technology purchases and updates, school bus transportation, library staff and resources, textbooks and supplies, student counseling services and the food program, district officials said.
Majority in Sequim
Sequim’s bond measure requires a 60 percent majority for passage.
District officials are asking voters to permit them to issue $154,325,000 in general obligation bonds that will mature within a maximum term of 20 years and levy annual excess property taxes to repay the bonds.
The bonds would be funded by Sequim School District taxpayers, those living between McDonald Creek on the west and Diamond Point Road and Gardiner on the east, at an estimated $2.24 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
Almost valid
Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand said Friday the number of ballots returned thus far in the Sequim measure is just shy of the 4,943 votes required to make the election valid.
Elections require a minimum of 40 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last general election to be counted.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
