5 October 2016

School District 5’s website is not reporting bond vote totals

This morning, the district announced on its website that the elementary and high school bonds were approved by the voters. The vote totals were not announced. Neither was the sizes of the bonds that passed. But the sizes of bonds passed by other communities were reported.

The district’s failure to report the preliminary election returns is inexcusable.

The results of the general election will be reported starting a few minutes after 2000 MST on 8 November. We’ll know the number of registered voters, the number of ballots cast, the number of absentee ballots mail and the number returned, and who received how many votes. That information will be released in real time on the Montana Secretary of State’s website.

If MTSecST can do that for hundreds of elections, School District 5 can do it for two bond elections.

Here’s what must be disclosed:

1. The number of registered voters in the elementary district.
2. The number of registered voters in the high school district (a larger number).
3. The number of elementary ballots mailed, and the number returned.
4. The number of high school ballots mailed, and the number returned.
5. The yeas and nays for each election.

Numbers count. So do voters. Educators know how to count. It’s time School District 5’s vote counters started sharing on the district’s website the detailed results of their counting.