After a campaign full of signs and stickers from students, parents, and teachers, voters in Dickson and Madill have approved bond measures to support their local school districts. Each proposal needed at least 60% voter approval to pass.
In Dickson, the measure narrowly passed with 65% of voters approving the $6.95 million bond issue. Turnout was relatively light with 10.3% of voters casting ballots for Dickson schools. Poll workers at the Dickson Community Center, which saw the highest turnout in Carter County, said they saw a steady stream of voters and recorded a total of 207 ballots on Tuesday. Poll workers at the Gene Autry Senior Center, however, only had six ballots cast by 7 p.m.
In all, 390 ballots were cast in the Dickson bond measure, according to unofficial results from the Carter County Board of Elections. Only 28 ballots were cast before Tuesday, and poll workers did not report any problems at the four polling places.
Dickson voters were asked whether to approve a millage rate increase of about 2.75 percent to pay for the new bond for the school system. Superintendent Jeff Colclasure had said the money was needed for drastic renovations to the campus. He told The Ardmoreite in August that some facilities will be upgraded or repurposed while others will be razed.
Colclasure said immediately following the ballot count on Tuesday that they can soon begin working with designers and architects, and he hopes to break ground on lighting upgrades before baseball season.
“Those would be the first things we want to get done,” Colclasure said.
Voters in Madill overwhelmingly approved a $15.5 million bond measure with 74% in favor.
Of the 853 ballots cast across Marshall County, 168 of them were from early voters.
The Madill Public School system proposed the bond measure for a new event center with STEM classrooms earlier this year. According to documents from Madill Public Schools, the recent proposal is on top of $3.28 million worth of bonds secured between November 2017 and July 2019. Those previous bonds are being primarily used for safe rooms and upgrades to outdoor athletic lighting.
The special election results will be certified by the Oklahoma Board of Elections on Friday.