Student votes on levy issues in General Election, one passes
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Zach Felsman, 18, studies for a test a week after he voted for the first time in the General Election.
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ARLEE – High school senior Zach Felsman, 18, knows all about filling in bubbles on tests, but last week, he filled in bubbles without a right or wrong answer during the General Election.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to vote,” he said. “My parents always stressed the need to have a say in government. In the past, people had to fight for the right to vote. It’s a privilege to vote, and it’s important, especially as a Native American. It’s important to be involved in this country.”
For the next election, he has a game plan.
“I need to get more informed about who the people are,” he said of the names of the ballot.
Two of the bubbles he filled in were for questions about the Arlee Technology Levy, which won’t go into effect until the next school year after he graduates. It wasn’t hard to guess which way he voted.
“I think it should pass,” Felsman said. “The technology here is starting to age, and technology is always advancing. We need to keep up.”
Voting on the levies could get confusing. Two different technology levies for the Arlee School District were on the ballot due to the fact that the state separates the district into two schools (the elementary and the high school). Each levy was for different amounts. The high school levy was for $23,000 per year for ten years, and the elementary levy for $53,000 per year for ten years. The money is pooled into one fund.
Two counties voted for the Arlee levies: Lake County and a corner of Sanders County. Two votes came in from Sanders County.
Absentee ballots were still being counted until late Monday after press time. The high school levy was passing with 280 votes for and 246 votes against. The elementary levy was tied at 377 votes.
Francis Ryan, the school’s network administrator, said the school would ask for a recount if the elementary levy fails.
“That can take up to two weeks,” he said.
Ryan plans to use the money from the high school levy to update the school’s technology system and maintain the Chromebooks.
“It’s all going into the same pot for the school so everything helps,” he said. “I’m going to update the backbone (the operating system) with new cable and switches,” he said. The switches are not like the ones that turn the lights off in a room, but more like directors, Ryan explained. He also wants to upgrade the school’s bandwidth, which he said regulated how much information the system could handle.
Many things he wanted to fix will have to wait.
“What won’t be able to happen is the refresh on the hardware,” he said. “Some of these computers are 8 years old.”
Less than 600 people voted in the district, so a few votes held a lot of weight, which changed the results several times.
“When I woke up the day after the election, I got a text from someone saying ‘congratulations, it passed,’” he said of both levies. “It was exciting. Then we saw the numbers from other sources and the elementary levy wasn’t passing.”
On Thursday, the numbers were different again.
“It looks like it’s tied,” he said looking at a message on his phone showing the numbers for the elementary levy at 377 to 377.
Ryan remains optimistic.
“We will try to run the elementary levy again in the spring with the school board elections,” he said. “The more we can offer these kids and expose them to new ideas, the better.”
