Feb. 13 election certified; April ballot called off

The February special election results were certified Feb. 23 with 36.33 percent voter turnout from the 69 precincts. Of the 22,072 ballots mailed out for the Feb. 12 election, 8,018 were counted.

The elections canvass board rejected 58 ballots which arrived with too-late postmarks. The board approved 25 out of 52 ballots which were held because of mismatched signatures and rejected 27. Four out of five ballots held for miscellaneous reasons were approved.

The elections office also discarded 411 ballots which were returned because voters had moved.

Overall, all proposals on the ballot except a Town of Rosalia’s streets levy for $95,000, were approved. The final count for Rosalia was 86 yes and 71 no for a 54.78 percent approval. The issue needed 60 percent to pass.

Nearly all other issues on the February ballot passed with 70 percent approval. The next lowest approval was Oakesdale school district which passed with 63.64 percent. Highest approval was earned by the Palouse School for its replacement levy at 76.39 percent.

The possibility of an April ballot ended when the lone entity requesting to run a measure, a fire district, withdrew after learning the estimated cost of the election was $6,000 not counting salary for the staff.

Costs for ballots are divided among the entities included according to the population eligible to votes in each district. As a solo applicant, the fire district would have had to shoulder the cost alone.