Pasco voters rush to correct 150 rejected ballots as levy hangs by 90 votes
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- Pasco voters scramble to correct about 150 rejected ballots before certification.
- Canvassing board will certify results Thursday; special school board meeting follows.
- If it fails, the district could file to seek another levy before Jan. 1, 2027.
The Pasco School Board has called a special meeting Thursday evening to talk about the pending failure of its critical operations levy.
The most current results showed the measure behind by 90 votes, or less than a percentage point. The special election will be certified Thursday, making it the final day any contested votes can to be counted.
Still, levy supports haven’t given up hope the measure could squeak by. They have been contacting voters who had rejected ballots, trying to help them correct questions as part of an eleventh-hour Hail Mary to overcome the deficit.
Just 10,600 of the nearly 44,800 registered voters in the school district — or about a quarter — returned their ballot by the end of election day, Feb. 10, to participate.
Could be first levy failure in 26 years
The levy is failing 5,368 to 5,278, or 50.4% against to 49.6% in support.
If the results stick, it would be the first operations levy to fail in a generation in the Pasco School District.
In February 2000, its levy failed to hit the 60% voter support threshold required of those types of taxes back then. But Pasco voters reversed their decision two months later, and ultimately passed a two-year measure with a reduced amount.
If this one fails, the Pasco district would have one more shot this calendar year to ask voters to approve it before it expires Jan. 1, 2027.
The school board would need to file a new resolution with the county auditor’s office by Feb. 27 to put it on the April 28 ballot. Or it could file it by May 1 to put it before voters Aug. 4.
The election canvassing board in Franklin County will formally certify the election results by 6 p.m. on Thursday. Then, at 7 p.m., the Pasco School Board will hold a special meeting at the C.L. Booth Building to discuss next steps.
School Board President Scott Lehrman said regardless of the outcome they will be transparent, improve efficiencies with operations and will solicit input from the community to determine what’s next.
He thanked voters for their support, and said he’s confident the school board will find a resolution that will have community support.
“Our school district needs a levy to pass, we need that LEA (Local Effort Assistance) money, and so we will find the right answer and make that work,” he said.
Ana Ruiz Kennedy, a volunteer for the Pasco Votes for Schools committee, says there’s still about 150 rejected ballots from voters in the school district who need to correct their signatures with the auditor’s office before that Thursday deadline.
The school district received so many phone calls from voters concerned about the status of their ballot that it placed a temporary message on its website directing individuals to state and Franklin County election resources.
Over the weekend, Ruiz Kennedy and a group of a dozen volunteers went door-to-door to talk with voters whose ballots were rejected.
“The win could be there in the rejected ballots,” she told the Tri-City Herald late Tuesday.
Most are young Pasco residents voting for their first or second time, so their signatures are often inconsistent or missing. Those can be corrected before the election certification.
During the sorting process, election officials try to verify voter signatures with state records.
Ruiz Kennedy said they did not ask voters how they voted, but did correct some misinformation from the “con” committee in the voters pamphlet about the amount.
“We are not losing hope yet,” Ruiz Kennedy said. “We’re just waiting for the final results and are hoping we can just pass this levy.”
Pasco’s levy for education, operations
The school district’s four-year, $153 million educational programs and operations levy would have provided funding to keep its finances stable over the coming years.
Those dollars make up about 10% of Pasco’s school operating budget. It pays for educational opportunities, technology, curriculum, athletics, extracurricular activities and sports, music and the arts, counselors, nurses, transportation and student safety.
The district would also receive an additional $14 million annually from the state through the Local Effort Assistance Program if the levy passed.
Pasco’s results are an outlier in the state for the Feb. 10 special election.
Washington OSPI says 132 of the state’s 295 total public school districts had tax measures on the ballot, and more than 90% of those passed last week.
Levies in Kennewick and Richland passed by comfortable margins, in most cases by at least 10 percentage points. Tri-City school districts asked voters to renew a combined $568 million in local funding to be collected between 2027 and 2030, and to benefit 51,000 students.
Kennewick asked for both an education programs and operations levy, as well as a safety, security and technology levy, worth $170 million.
Richland also asked voters to pass two measures worth $243 million: An education programs and operations levy, and a technology improvement levy.
