Special school election brings another strong February turnout
Published 10:17 am Thursday, February 11, 2016
Voters in the Tuesday Edmonds School District election continued a trend of strong turnout in special elections.
Ballots from 28.4 percent of registered voters in the school district had arrived at the Snohomish County elections office by Wednesday morning.
With some ballots yet to arrive, the return rate already is higher than the final turnout in the August primary for local offices.
The Wednesday morning return rate includes all ballots left in drop boxes around the county, along with mailed ballots that had arrived by Wednesday morning. The return rate could go up with ballots that had been mailed with a Tuesday postmark.
The only item on local ballots was a $59 million four-year levy for technology improvements and upgrades to buildings and sports fields. The measure was passing with 62.5 percent in favor as of Wednesday night. It needed only a simple majority to pass.
In past special elections, the ballot-return rate didn’t go up very much in the days following the election, County Elections Manager Garth Fell said Wednesday, because special-election voters have tended to return their ballots early. This year, however, the return rate still could go up, Fell said, because postal sorting in the county has changed, perhaps delaying ballots mailed Tuesday.
The Wednesday countywide ballot-return rate of 29.6 percent also is higher than the final turnout in last year’s August primary.
County elections officials will continue to count ballots and report new results through final certification of the election Friday, Feb. 19.
The Edmonds School District levy is expected to cost property owners in the district between 56 and 59 cents per $1,000 assessed value, or up to $148 on a $250,000 home.
The school district includes Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Woodway, unincorporated areas near those communities and part of the city of Brier.
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.
