
Nearly 59 percent of voters who cast ballots in the Santa Fe Public Schools special election favor continued spending for education technology.
Santa Fe County Clerk told SFR around 5 pm Tuesday she was unsure how long it would take to issue the results from the area's first mail-in ballot initiative, but she issued the tally just after 7:30 pm showing 17,098 yes votes compared to 12,005 no votes.
District Superintendent Veronica Garia published a statement late Tuesday: "This victory was truly a team effort and I am very grateful to the voters of Santa Fe County for their support. Now we will be able to refresh equipment, continue critical positions that support digital learning, fund computer science initiatives, provide training and resources to keep teachers current on teaching and learning and maintain broken devices and network problems."
But Garcia also noted communication with voters was a challenge during the election and she has already named a new committee to be led by Carl Luff that will "engage the community in matters around building stronger Santa Fe Public Schools by better communicating with the public about this type of election and how the funds are utilized to provide more transparency and awareness of the use of these fund."
The clerk mailed out some 85,403 ballots, so the unofficial turnout of 29,103 represents about 34 percent of eligible voters. Previous similar elections enticed just 10 percent of voters, backing up the idea that a mail ballot could increase voter participation.
The tech bond renewal does not increase property taxes, but keeps in a place an increment already being applied to homes in the district. It's good for five years.