Voters file for Moses Lake school bond recount

MOSES LAKE — A group of Moses Lake voters has demanded a recount of last month’s closely-run school construction bond.

“If this was a political race, there’d be an automatic recount,” said Fred Meise, one of the signatories of the recount petition. “We are talking about $135 million here.”

The school bond, intended to build a second high school to accommodate the growing number of students in Moses Lake as well as build an eleventh elementary school and refurbish the existing Moses Lake High School, passed by three votes — 5,678 “yes” votes to 3,781 “no” votes, with one undervote — for a total of 60.03 percent.

“We think it’s close, and we think the numbers are out there to get this turned around,” Meise said.

Bond initiatives need 60 percent approval to pass in Washington state.

For nearly all of the 10 days between Election Day on Feb. 14 and the day the ballot was finally certified, Feb. 24, the measure fell short of the needed 60 percent approval by around four votes.

According to Dedra Osborn, deputy elections official with Grant County, the county will decide on Monday when the hand recount will be conducted. The cost of the recount, $2,365 — 25 cents per ballot — is being paid by the petitioners.

Osborn said the votes will be separated into “yes” and “no” piles and then counted twice by different people. If the counts disagree, they will be counted a third time.

“We have 9,460 ballots, and it will probably take the good part of a day, though I hope it doesn’t,” Osborn said.

Thomas Fancher, who was present at a meeting on Monday to organize the recount, said there was little hesitation to raise the money needed to support the recount.

“It was hard to tell who was faster on the draw to get their wallets out,” Fancher said. “There’s no question in the minds of those people, we want this correct.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.