Iola and USD 257 voters said “No, No” at the polls Tuesday. THE MOOD among supporters was somber from the get-go. IN OTHER Election Day votes, LaHarpe residents approved a 1-cent sales tax for street improvements, 79 to 61 (56 percent to 44 percent), while nearly three-quarters of the local voters chose to retain Magistrate Judge Thomas Saxton (3,112 to 1,064). ELSEWHERE, Allen Countians mirrored statewide voters in all of the other contested races. ALLEN COUNTY Clerk Sherrie Riebel said a handful of ballots that did not go through the voting machine were still to be counted. (Those ballots cannot be fed back through the machine, but rather must be counted separately later.)
Voters resoundingly rejected a proposed $50 million school bond referendum that would have paid for new elementary and high schools at the north edge of Iola.
Unofficially, the bond vote failed, 62 percent to 38 percent (1,812 to 1,128).
A corresponding sales tax vote, that would have increased Iola’s citywide tax one-half percent also failed, 58 percent to 42 percent (1,027 to 740). Half of the proceeds from the sales tax increase would have gone to upkeep of city streets.
Voters were even more emphatic in Gas and LaHarpe, where the school bond was rejected by a nearly 70-30 margin.
The rebuke puts the district back at square one in terms of what, if anything, should be done in terms of facility improvements.
In the run-up to Tuesday’s vote, school officials cited several issues with the current buildings, including safety and accessibility issues, unequal educational resources at respective buildings and rising maintenance and utility costs.
School board members said on numerous occasions they unanimously favored new construction over renovation.
It was not immediately clear how Tuesday’s vote will change their focus.
“I want to thank everyone who supports education and who worked so hard on this,” Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn said after the results were announced.
As they gathered at the county courthouse Tuesday evening, the tally of advanced votes released at 7 p.m. showed voters were soundly against building new schools. Of the 858 cast before Election Day, the bond issue trailed by 161 votes; the sales tax, by 89.
Their prospects did not improve as the votes from Gas, LaHarpe and finally Iola came in.
By 9:30 p.m. the measure had failed decidedly.
The defeat came hard.
“I want to thank you all for what you did. I thoroughly appreciate it,” said Tony Leavitt, president of the USD 257 Board of Education, his voice heavy with disappointment.
Local voters also followed their counterparts statewide in opting to retain Supreme Court justices Lee Johnson and Eric Rosen on the seven-member body.
Both withstood a statewide removal effort by those angered by the court’s recent decision to overturn death sentences for two borthers in connection with four killings in Wichita in December 2000.
Justices are appointed by the governor, but must face voters every six years in a yes-or-no ballot question to determine whether each is retained.
Since the state began the system in 1960, no justice has been removed from the Supreme Court.
Local voters favored Gov. Sam Brownback’s bid for re-election, 50 percent to 44 percent (2,227 to 1,951) over Democratic challenger Paul Davis. Libertarian Keen Umbehr earned 203 votes locally, a shade under 5 percent.
Likewise, 57 percent of the Allen County voters chose Pat Roberts for re-election to his U.S. Senate seat over Independent Greg Orman (36 percent) and Libertarian Randall Batson (7 percent).
Rep. Lynn Jenkins received 63 percent of the vote to return to Congress over Democratic challenger Margie Wakefield.
Nearly two-thirds of Allen Countians also favored Secretary of State Kris Kobach over Democratic challenger Jean Schodorf. The margin was 3-to-1 for Attorney General Derek Schmidt over A.J. Kotich.
Ken Selzer earned 65 percent of the vote here to replace retiring Sandy Praeger as insurance commissioner over Dennis Anderson. State Treasurer Ron Estes easily won re-election here and statewide over Democratic challenger Carmen Alldritt.
Allen Countians also agreed with voters statewide on a constitutional amendment that lifts rules against raffles by non-profit religious, charitable, fraternal, educational and veterans organizations.
In addition, 125 provisional ballots — those in which a voter’s identification did not match information at respective polling places — also must still be counted when the election is certified by Allen County Commissioners. Commissioners will canvass the results Monday morning, with certification Nov. 12.
In all, 4,590 Allen Countians cast ballots in Tuesday’s election, or 53 percent of Allen County’s 8,583 registered voters.
No way, no how for new schools, upgrades for city
