School bond needs 2,836 ballots Tuesday

Bond Chair Maren Norton, right says that
2836 ballots need to be turned in Tuesday

By Diane Hettrick

The Shoreline Public School District has the only item on the Valentine's Day ballot - a bond to rebuild aging buildings, including the Children's Center, which houses our youngest children. See previous article for details.

Under state rules, a bond issue must receive a 60% yes vote to pass. This is never a problem in Shoreline Schools, whose levy and bond measures pass with over 70%.

The District, in its 50 plus year history, has failed only one bond or levy and that was the year of the Boeing Bust.

The repercussions of that failure were felt for years.

However, there is a validation requirement beyond the yes - no vote.

The number of ballots cast must equal or exceed 60% of the number of votes cast in the previous general election.

Since the previous general election was the November presidential election and turnout was very high, the validation number for the school bond is high: 16.002 ballots must be cast, whether yes or no.

According to Maren Norton, Volunteer Chair of the Bond Committee,

As of 8pm Monday, there were 13,199 returns of which 12,941 had been signature verified. We need 16,002 to validate, so if all received turn out to be verified, we would still need 2,836 to validate.

If you still have a ballot on your desk, Tuesday would be a good day to turn it in.