Judge voids Hot Springs election

The Hot Springs school levy election from May 7 has been voided after a district judge issued a ruling last week. The school district is now working to rerun the election.

On June 21, Hot Springs school board member Jennifer Christensen filed a petition requesting the election be voided after it was discovered that more than 100 absentee ballots were not mailed to voters for the May election.

In the filing, Christensen stated that at the May 15 school board meeting, "the election administrator admitted to not sending out over 100 absentee ballots that should have gone to voters legally registered to vote in Hot Springs School District elections. At the meeting, the Hot Springs School District Board of Trustees canvassed the vote and certified that the levy proposition only passed by three votes."

Earlier this year, Superintendent Gerald Chouinard stated that the school district was facing a budget shortfall and that more than $300,000 would need to be cut from the budget. The district then asked voters to approve a levy in the amount of $183,000 to support the general fund. In May, 295 ballots were cast and the levy passed 149-146.

The school board addressed the petition at the July 10 meeting. "The petition alleges that there are irregularities in the election, which we know is true," school attorney Elizabeth Kaleva said during the meeting. "And that the irregularities could have substantially changed the outcome of the election." Kaleva recommended the board of trustees not contest the petition. "Option A is to fight it, B is to file a response saying we don't object," Kaleva continued. "Option A is going to be expensive and the chances of success are not great, to be honest."

Board member Julie White made the motion to authorize Kaleva to file the response to the petition, and board chairperson Ricky DePoe seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. The school board's response was filed last Thursday and District Court Judge John Mercer ruled on the matter the same day, granting the petition to void the election and ordering that a special election on the school levy proposition be held within 85 days.

A special meeting of the Hot Springs school board was held this week. While the agenda first stated that the meeting was to "recommend to call for election of board trustees," a few hours prior to Monday's meeting the new business was changed to "recommend to call for levy election of board trustees." Kaleva on Monday stated the new election would be by mail ballot, with no polling location open. The school board voted unanimously to approve a levy election as soon as possible. "We're going to make sure we're doing everything correctly," Chouinard said Monday.

Chouinard stated the school will again run the election, with help from the legal team. Sanders County Treasurer Lisa Wadsworth, who acts as the county's election administrator, said that schools have the authority to run their own elections. In May, all school districts except Hot Springs chose to have the county run their elections. Hot Springs District Clerk Carmen Jackson, who was the election administrator for the May 7 election, said last Friday that the school ran a polling place election instead of a mail ballot election with the county in order to get more people to the polls. "The theory at the time was the hope that we could get voters to our school and we could pass our levy. In the prior year, we did a mail ballot election and it didn't pass, so we tried to get more voters this year," Jackson stated.

Jackson said she received a couple calls from voters who didn't get their ballots three or four days before the election and advised them to go to the school on election day to vote. She stated she didn't know that 129 voters from the absentee list were not sent ballots until the day of the election, and added that the district consulted their lawyer immediately when the issue was discovered.

Most of the voters who did not receive absentee ballots were from the Camas Prairie area, in precinct 9. On April 12, Sanders County Elections staff provided information to the Hot Springs School District for the 603 voters registered for absentee ballots. An error occurred when Jackson downloaded the list and created mailing labels for the ballots.

"I think the board and the district's position is that we've been very honest about the mistake. I have been honest when asked about it. We're hopeful that the community understands the dire financial situation we are in. It definitely was not intentional and I am confident we have community support to pass the levy," Jackson added.

At the June school board meeting, residents approached the school board about the ballot issues. It was after that meeting that Christensen decided to file the petition to void the election.

"I think we need to start looking at adjustments for 24-25 and beyond in the absence of levy funds," Superintendent Chouinard stated at the July 10 school board meeting. He noted that the district is increasing activity fees and will implement required fundraising for activities for overnight stays and some fees starting in the coming school year. Chouinard stated that the district would possibly look at combining classrooms in the future. "There will be additional changes in 25-26 if we decide to run another levy and are unable to pass it. That's just the reality of things. If we keep going down this road, at some point in time we're going to have to consider closing one of our school levels because we're just getting to the point that unless we have an influx of funding or the funding changes at the state level, we're moving toward a cliff here," he said.

At Monday's meeting, Kaleva said the school district will move forward with a preliminary budget that does not include the levy funds. If the second levy election passes, then the district can approve a budget amendment, which could be done before tax bills go out this fall. "My biggest thing is that taxpayers won't get a separate bill," DePoe stated.

The school district has not yet set a date for the new election.