Moses lake school bond still passes, court challenge looms

MOSES LAKE — Unchanged.

That’s what the Grant County Elections Canvassing Board certified on Friday morning after a day-long hand recount of the Feb. 14 school construction bond in the Moses Lake School District.

The bond measure, which provides $135 million to build a second high school, and eleventh elementary school, and do needed repair work to the existing high school, still passed with 60.03 percent of the vote — 5,678 ‘yes’ votes to 3,781 ‘no’ votes.

However, opponents of the measure filed suit in Grant County Superior Court Wednesday alleging irregularities in the way Grant County elections officials handled the counting of unsigned ballots or ballots with signatures that didn’t match what county election official had on file.

In their suit, six Moses Lake voters are asking the court to set aside and annul the results of the Feb. 14 election.

“We have a March 20 hearing date, and we are not able to move forward on our projects,” said Moses Lake School Superintendent Michelle Price. “Hopefully we can request an earlier hearing state, but we have no control over this.”

To add to the uncertainty, the Moses Lake School Board passed a resolution in late February approving another special election on this same school construction bond in late April, and has until March 17 to withdraw that election request, Price said.

Otherwise, Moses Lake School District voters will be asked to vote on the $135 million school construction bond again.

“Our intention is to move forward with the project,” Price said. “We may need to go ahead with an April vote.” Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com