Carrington School building levy vote too close to call

January 8, 2025

More than 500 Carrington School District residents cast ballots in the Jan. 8 special election, and by the initial count the vote would come in just short of passing.

According to unofficial results released around 9 p.m. Wednesday, 567 patrons cast ballots for the question of whether the Carrington School District should increase its building fund levy authority from 5 mills to 10 mills per year.

A total of 333 'yes' votes were cast, which is 58.7% of the total, just 8 votes short of the 60% needed for the measure to pass. The other 234 voters said no to the proposal.

Superintendent Janelle Helm said there were still 59 absentee ballots yet to come in. Votes must be postmarked the day before the election in order to be counted during the canvassing meeting but may arrive later and still be counted, so it's possible for the official vote tally to surpass the 60% threshold needed for the measure to pass.

The votes will be canvassed and certified at a special meeting of the school board on January 21 at 6 p.m.

Editor's Note: Since the results of the election came in after press time Wednesday, this article is exclusively online. The unofficial results will appear in the Jan. 20 print edition, and the final result after the canvassing meeting will be published in the Jan. 27 print edition.