You need to vote Tuesday (tomorrow) on the School District 271 levy and trustee election. If you haven’t yet turned in an absentee ballot, then it’s imperative that you not miss tomorrow’s election.
The reason I’m making this plea is that those who blindly and unquestionable support this levy are out in force. We need to be as well, but sadly we don’t have the deep pockets of the teacher’s union or the loud voices of those insiders and developers who benefit whenever a construction levy is passed. So we need a grassroots effort to get out the vote.
Start by voting yourself. Get everyone in your family to vote. Phone people tonight, then tomorrow to remind them. Remember that the levy supporters will be doing this in droves. They are politically motivated to pass this levy, pick your pocket, and silence your voice.
Next, phone up five or ten friends and get them to vote as well. They can vote in any school, preferably one in their neighborhood so that they can vote on the Trustee election as well.
Finally, phone your family and friends up again tomorrow to ensure that they did vote. If not, remind them how very important this is.
Get out and vote tomorrow!
I emailed County Clerk Dan English and asked him to drop in here to answer the question from cda_foodies about the absentee ballots. Hope he checks his email soon!
Comment by mary — May 19, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Hello,
I just checked an e-mail from Mary and she said there were some questions about absentee ballot requests. The first and probably most important thing to point out is that the County Elections Department is not involved with any of the school district election(s) tomorrow. If you have problems or questions about your school district absentee ballot you would need to contact which ever school district you live in directly.
For the May 27th Primary Election, the last day to request an absentee ballot is this Wednesday. If you have any questions you can call 446-1010 or drop by 1808 N. 3rd Street in CDA. If fact, once you’re there you can also just choose to vote early in person. We are getting quite a few voters today. Actually some have come in thinking they could vote in the school district election but decide to get the primary out of the way since they are there anyway. In person absentee voting will continue through next Monday (and yes we therefore will be open on Memorial Day).
Gotta run for now but will return and perhaps have some discussion on the topic of election consolidation some day. Some may be aware there was a very large and complex bill that got introduced last session to have the counties do all elections including schools for consistency and to strengthen the whole system. It got introduced quite late but it will probably come back next year. I will likely be serving on a committee over the summer of other county clerks, etc. to review and suggest ways to improve it. There is a lot of public interest (I think there is at least) in election consolidation.
Comment by Dan English — May 19, 2008 @ 4:52 pm
I think we’re all interesting in cleaning up the current mess of little elections all over the place, Dan. Thanks for telling us a bit about the new bill. I’m sorry, I forgot the school elections don’t run by your rules, or anyone else’s for that matter. The school district sets all their own rules, creates the ballots, supervises the voting places, collects the boxes full of ballots and takes them to their central location where the school district counts them!
Comment by mary — May 19, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
Mary,
The school district does not “set the rules”, create the ballots”, “supervise the voting places”, collect the ballot boxes”, nor “count the ballots”. Think about it. If they did ANY of those things, would a levy EVER fail?
Comment by Mark W Altman — May 19, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
Are you serious, Mark? If they school district does not run their own elections, then who does? Do you? Who does print the ballots and count the votes if it’s not the school district nor the county? Enlighten us.
Comment by Dan — May 20, 2008 @ 7:07 am
Dan,
You would know better than me, but I’m pretty sure the state “set the rules” through state law. I have had two different conversations, one with Harry, one with Vern Newby (I think) in which we were talking with a third party and the comment was made that it isn’t school district personnel but the usual supervisors who run the vote. I know every time I have been in to vote there have been older folks manning the boxes. I also know that it defies logic that the entity that has the biggest dog in the fight over an issue, would be the one to watch the box and count the vote. If we are collectively THAT stupid then we deserve to have ALL our money taxed away from us.
I’ll make a call later today and ask again. (I always operate from the premise that I have gotten something wrong, it happens to me fairly often). 🙂
Mark
Comment by Mark W Altman — May 20, 2008 @ 7:42 am
The conduct of school elections is defined in Idaho Code 33-403.
Comment by Bill — May 20, 2008 @ 7:46 am
Again, this comes down to getting out the message. I had heard, repeatedly from many people, that it’s the school district itself that runs the election just as Mary described. If this is truly not the case, then I think it behooves the school district to get the facts out there. We don’t mind helping here at OpenCdA, because shedding light on the issues is the main thing we want to do.
I think it would make people feel better about the elections to know that it is not the fox counting the eggs — well, so to speak.
Comment by Dan — May 20, 2008 @ 7:57 am
Thanks Bill,
This seems to answer the question and it appears to me that the clerks and judges who administer the vote have to be certified to do so, and while it doesn’t say where they come from in this paragraph, it seems silly the law would go to all this trouble just have a biased party (on either side of the issue) count the votes.
33-403. CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS. In all school elections each polling place
shall be presided over by a board of election. Each board shall consist of one
(1) or more judges and a clerk, who shall be qualified school district
electors of the district. The board of election shall determine the time of
duty of each judge and clerk as full time or part time on duty and require
those who count the ballots to remain on duty until the ballots are counted.
Before entering upon his duties, each member of the board of election shall
take an oath, which shall be administered by any qualified school district
elector of the district, faithfully to perform the duties of such member.
Have a great day!
Mark
Comment by Mark W Altman — May 20, 2008 @ 8:30 am
Mark, I have a letter from the school district dated April 24, 2008, referring to this subject. While it’s true there is the state code that sets out some stipulations, look a bit closer at the process:
1. The school district sets the language of the ballot. Remember our conversation with Harry Amend about this, out at the Mica Grange? So the flexible, vague, legal wording on the ballot allows the district to use the levy money for any building, equipment or land purchase anywhere in the district.
2. The supervisors of the voting locations are chosen by the school district. They are not employees of the district. They are “qualified school district electors”–what does that mean? They also bring the votes to a central location. The letter implies that their job stops at this point. It then states: “The votes are then tabulated in public view and then reported.” It does not say who counts the votes but it seems certain the school district controls the process. I do know that Hazel Bauman said if anyone wants to view the counting process they must apply at least a week or so ahead of time (I’ve forgotten the exact time frame).
The school district could have Dan English and the County Elections Dept. run the election. Dan has told me they are available for any of the elections, but the schools do not want to pay the county to run the process. I think they should. It would be more consistent and reliable to have the county oversee all the elections.
Comment by mary — May 20, 2008 @ 9:45 am
Mark, you said “it seems silly the law would go to all this trouble just have a biased party (on either side of the issue) count the votes.”
Many Idaho state laws have glaring loopholes and need to be updated. This seems to be one of them.
Comment by mary — May 20, 2008 @ 9:50 am
I just voted ~NO~ at Woodland Middle School. What a ghost town! Three volunteers manning the show and only one other voter present during my visit.
GO VOTE!!!
Comment by Damn Yankee — May 20, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Mark you were at the Grange when the issue of the ballot was brought up. The wording is vague and very open ended and confusing. So who writes these words? The school district or does some third party write it for them?
Who is working the elections – a friend of mine who has worked for the district called the school district and said she would help count the votes at the downtown facility (where the ballots will be taken). The clerk said OK. Then she receives a call a couple of days ago from the school district stating they want her to work at a one of the schools. She refused because she felt her volunteer time would be better spent doing the counting and not sitting for all the hours at a polling venue. This leads me to believe the school district wants people more closely tied to the important operations of counting to be their selected people.??
Also, I voted absentee. When the ballot finally arrived. I followed the instructions of this piece of paper being put in this envelope and then enclosed and sealed into another envelope. Did this twice for the levy vote and then for the trustee vote. All secret and sealed documents put inthe business size envelopes provided and when I went to place them in the stamped envelope from the school district that they were to be returned in — they didn’t fit- a business siz envelope doesn’t fit into a 6 by 9 envelope. The ballot had to be folded and placed in the mailer envelope. My question will the ballot be counted as I had to fold it?? Who was in charge of absentee ballots and envelopes at the school district??
Comment by ShyAnn — May 20, 2008 @ 11:04 am
Shy Ann (and others)-
In answer to many of the excellent questions here, I must confess I do not know the answers to many of them. I do not know who writes the wording of the ballot. However, I also know that I do not want to tie the hands of my elected officials by overly restrictive wording of a ballot. I WANT them to be able to take advanteage of opportunity and to be able to react to unforseen challenges. That is why I hire them (vote for them) in the first place. If I feel they are doing a poor job then I will hire someone else the next election.
I also realize that as a policy maker, balancing the needs/wants of so many stakeholders is a difficult job, so unless it involves out and out theft of public monies I am more tolerant than many of you seem to be. That is not ot say I am right and you all are wrong, just a different way of looking at it.
The question of the volunteer is one I can not speak to as I have never volunteered (something I should do now that you mention it). I could have sworn that I was told the county does count the ballots; that for reasons expressed earlier, the school district has nothing to do with the process. I can’t imagine the folding of the ballot would matter.
Mary-
You are certainly correct about holes in the law (in every state and at every level). However this seems like too big an oversight to be true and like I said I am almost positive I have been told more than once the district has an outside agency (like the county) handle these votes from soup to nuts. If they didn’t you would be hard pressed to ever vote a levy down and since that happens every so often, my guess is the process is an honest and fair one.
I do hope it quits raining before my wife and I go to vote- I might melt! 🙂
Have a great day!
Mark
Comment by Mark W Altman — May 20, 2008 @ 11:51 am
Mark, I appreciate your openness and optimism. I’m an optimist myself. You just wrote that “like I said I am almost positive I have been told more than once the district has an outside agency (like the county) handle these votes from soup to nuts.”
Mark, please read the comment #2 up above. It’s from Dan English, the County Clerk who’s in charge of all county elections. He clearly states here that the county has NO part in the process of this election.
Comment by mary — May 20, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
Mary-
That’s why I made the caveat. I know I was told it is not the district, but some other agency. I thought I was told the county, but maybe not. I’ll ask when I go vote this afternoon and post the answer I get back here. Assuming I don’t melt in the rain. 🙂
Mark
Comment by Mark W Altman — May 20, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
The District says that they use their own people. They claim that it’s cheaper than contracting out to the County. But still they use the same “volunteers” as the county, and they *pay* them to do the work. What’s up with that?
Comment by Dan — May 20, 2008 @ 12:50 pm
I just came from voting at Atlas Elementary and the nice ladies informed me they are hired by the county. So while I am still not certain, I am reasonably certain the school district does not handle their own elections.
Mark
Comment by Mark W Altman — May 20, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
Each taxing district is responsible for their own elections. They can choose to contract with their respective county to have the county conduct all or a portion of their election if both they and the county agree. In Kootenai County we probably do more of these contract elections than just about any other county in the state but there are still many we don’t do. We don’t do any of the school elections in large part because it is right before our own and they have quite different procedures and rules for school elections.
While any poll workers for todays school elections would have been selected and paid for by each school district the same group of poll workers tend to work both county elections and other elections. That might account for the confusion especially with many of these same people working for us next Tuesday and attending our poll worker training sessions this week.
Comment by Dan English — May 20, 2008 @ 5:17 pm