The most unusual result of the recent election did not come from
the district attorney’s race. Or from the bids for supervisor.
The most unusual result of the recent election did not come from the district attorney’s race. Or from the bids for supervisor.
The casual prognosticator might have chosen one of those races in a prediction of closeness.
But no, the closest race came from the most remote local election outpost: north San Benito County and a sliver of Santa Clara County. Spring Grove School offered voters the opportunity to vote on a school bond – Measure M – and the final results are still not available. At the moment, it appears the bond measure will pass by a single vote. Two votes cast by Santa Clara County voters may have pushed the measure into reality, edging it past the 55 percent passage rate.
We say “may have,” because San Benito County must recheck votes before the outcome is final. County Registrar John Hodges said he didn’t expect changes, and also said he didn’t believe he had ever seen an election decided by a single vote. The $3 million in bond money, by the way, would be used to fund construction. A bond issue proposed by the Aromas-San Juan School District was voted down.
North County school officials expressed surprise that the vote was so close. Phone polling apparently had indicated support for the bond measure. But officials also commented that a poor show of support could be the result of low voter turnout. And whether the connection between higher turnout and passage by a higher margin is not concrete, the lack of participation by registered voters – we won’t even get into the issue of people who don’t bother to register at all – is becoming a depressing refrain we seem to hear every election.
And we certainly are not pointing fingers at North County officials. They are correct, people are not voting. It makes a difference. Participation in primary elections is pathetic. State officials speculate that some 28 percent of registered voters cast ballots this month.
That is a depressing number. Blame apathy, blame disgust at attack ads, blame a perceived lack of importance because of a paucity of “glamour” races, blame anything you want. The fact is, citizens are not voting. And it affects not only the big-ticket propositions and the primaries for things like governor, it affects the little guy.
Spring Grove School is looking to upgrade classrooms and playing fields. A cafeteria would be built so kids could eat lunch together, indoors, during rainy weather. That’s pretty big stuff. It’s stunning to think a decision on these items could hang by a single vote.
A single vote. We can drive by Spring Grove School, take a look, and know that one vote may have put a kid in a cafeteria on a rainy day. And we can lament that more people did not care enough to cast a vote on the subject.
