Washington vote on school levy simple majority swings to yes
Nov 14, 11:04 AM EST
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- More than a week after Election Day, the vote on a constitutional amendment to allow passage of school levies by a simple majority has swung into the yes column.
A tally posted Tuesday evening on the state secretary of state's Web site showed HJR4204 passing for the first time, 756,963 to 750,011, or 50.23 percent to 49.77 percent, with 68,726 ballots left to count.
As of Monday, the measure was trailing by nearly 2,600 votes. Backers noted that voter support has increased each day since the election on Nov. 6, when the tally showed the measure trailing with nearly 53 percent voting no.
"You can see a real shift of the electorate," Secretary of State Sam Reed said Tuesday. "More elderly voters tend to vote early - that may be part of the pattern."
Under a constitutional provision dating back decades, levies to raise property taxes temporarily - typically for a year or two - to support public schools must receive at least 60 percent voter approval.
In the past eight years more than 100 school districts received majority approval for levies but fell short of the 60 percent supermajority.
On average across the state, levies account for about 17 percent of local school budgets.
"My faith in representative democracy is growing," said Christie Querna, president of the Spokane School Board. "I think that the message got out there that this is a fairness issue."
Maureen Ramos, president of the Spokane Education Association, said that if current trends continue in the final vote count, the margin of victory will likely grow. About 32,000 of the uncounted ballots are in King County, which has voted 58.5 percent yes, the highest percentage in favor in the state.
Only seven of the other 38 counties in the state - Jefferson, San Juan, Snohomish, Spokane, Thurston, Whatcom and Whitman - voted in favor of the measure, most by much smaller margins.
A recount could be ordered if the final margin is less than 2,000 votes.
Anti-tax initiative activist Tim Eyman of Mukilteo said the measure was hardly a barometer of voter sentiment on property taxes.
"Three or four million dollars spent, with no opposition, and yet they barely eke out a victory?" Eyman said. "Yeah, voters love tax increases. This is just gasoline on the fire."
He also said King County putting the measure over the top would awaken conservatives' bitter memories of 2004, when two statewide recounts reversed the outcome of the governor's race and gave the victory to Democrat Chris Gregoire over Republican Dino Rossi.
"Another election stolen by King County?" Eyman said. "You can't say that people aren't saying it and aren't thinking it."
