BELL COUNTY, Texas — A bond to improve facilities at every Temple Independent School District failed Tuesday after another count of the ballots, according to the Bell County Elections Board.
The count included an additional 18 provisional votes. The bond initially failed by just three votes on election day 1,964 to 1,967.
The official count was 1,965 votes for the bond and 1,967 against the bond, according to officials and the margin of three moved to margin of two.
Only one of those provisional ballots included a vote regarding the TISD bond, according the officials.
The $178.3 million Proposition A raises the tax rate by 12 cents per $100 of property value, the district said. It goes toward facility upgrades at every campus.
According to Deputy Chief of Bell County Elections, Jeannette Compean, the count will be the final numbers, but they don't become official until the canvassing on Nov.15.
Once the board counts the vote with the additional ballots, Compean said the district can ask for a recount.
Dr. Bobby Ott, Temple ISD superintendent, reacted to the results by saying:
“I would just like to say that I am very proud of our professionalism, positivity and honesty throughout this process,” said Ott, “No matter what side of the vote, our entire community has highlighted these things throughout the bond process. The needs were determined by our citizens and our engagement with the community has been nonstop. Based on the number of emails and calls I’ve received It appears that many people regret not voting. The democratic process of voting was not founded on the basis of apathy. It was started with the idea that every voice matters - and this includes your voice for your local schools and your own children and grandchildren. The results of this election revealed that truth. As TISD’s superintendent, I want to be clear that I am committed to running this process as many times as necessary to ensure the needs of our students, staff and community are met when it comes to facilities and being provisioned for growth. We will re-engage the community, modify the package based on input and run it back.”