The Pasco School District, Wash., bond is now passing.
The $99.5 million bond, which needs 60 percent of the vote to be approved, has crossed that threshhold with just three votes.
Updated numbers released Thursday afternoon show the bond passing with 60.03 percent, or 6,199 votes, of 10,326 votes cast.
The Pasco School District put the request on the Nov. 7 ballot, arguing the bond is needed to address overcrowding in one of Washington’s fastest growing school districts.
If it passes, the bond will cost property owners an estimated 59 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or $118 annually for a $200,000 home.
The Franklin County Auditor’s Office said that seven more votes will be counted Monday. Six were ballots that were received late today; one had a signature issue that was resolved.
The auditor’s office said 115 ballots have signature issues that are unresolved. The auditor’s office said it is notifying those voters about their ballots.
If voters don’t resolve those issues, their ballots do not count, according to state law.
Superintendent Michelle Whitney was encouraged by the results.
“We’re grateful to all the community members who voted in this election and made a commitment to support our students,” she said. “We will continue to watch the results closely as we wait for all of the votes to be counted.”
State law does allow mandatory recounts for bond measures, but it is possible for five voters to get together to request the ballots be counted again.
They also have to put down a deposit.
Roger Lenk, who led opposition efforts, is waiting until the final count before making any decisions about challenging the count.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said. “We still got one or two more counts to go. ... We’ll see if the next count changes that back.”
