Battle Ground voters haven’t approved a bond measure since 2005
The first set of returns from the Nov. 13 special election were released by the Clark County Elections Department Tuesday and voters in the Evergreen and La Center school districts were narrowly approving bond measures while the early returns in Battle Ground were below the needed level for approval.
The bond measures in all three of the school district’s need a supermajority of 60 percent of the votes for approval.
The initial returns in Battle Ground showed 7,988 votes in favor of the bond measure, or 56.91 percent, while 6,048 voters (43.09 percent) cast their ballots with a “no’’ response to the district’s request for $224.9 million to be used in conjunction with an expected $61.6 million state matching grant to refurbish school buildings. The funds would also bring improvements in technology and campus safety.
The last bond to pass in the Battle Ground School District was in 2005.
Battle Ground Public Schools seek capital bond
The Evergreen School District asked its patrons to approve a $695 million bond that would be used to replace and rebuild several schools in the district. Initial returns had that bond passing with 60.12 percent approval (12,308 votes); 8,165 voters (39.88 percent) voted in opposition to the bond.
Evergreen Public Schools seeks bond for district development
La Center voters showed the strongest support for its district’s bond, which received 65.78 percent (1,384 votes) approval, while 34.22 percent (720 votes) were opposed to passage. That $48 million bond that will fund a new middle school and convert middle and elementary schools into an elementary school only.
La Center bond put to vote on Feb. 13
La Center also had the highest voter turnout of the three districts, with 34.98 percent of registered voters participating in the special election. In Battle Ground, voter turnout was 31.19 percent and 25.01 percent of Evergreen voters turned in ballots.
City of Camas
Also on Tuesday’s ballot was an emergency medical services property tax levy in the city of Camas. A total of 72.57 percent of voters approved that levy request, which starts in 2019 and will be spent on ambulances and emergency transportation.
