Fifty percent of vote already cast in special election

With four days remaining for voters in the St. Paul school district to submit their ballots for St. Paul Public Schools’ special bond election, over fifty percent of votes have already been cast.

Late Friday afternoon, Howard County Election Commissioner Brenda Klanecky reported that, as of 4:00 p.m., 1,301 ballots had been received by her office. Klanecky reported that, over 2,500 ballots had been sent out in the all-mail special election.

That means that over fifty percent of voters in the school district have cast ballots in the special election.

Klanecky’s office also sent out over eighty ballots to Howard County residents who reside in the Palmer school district, which is also running a special bond election that will conclude on March 12th. Over fifty percent of those ballots have also been returned to the election commissioner’s office.

Ballots for both special elections must be returned to the Howard County Election Commissioner’s Office by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12th to be counted. Ballots can be either dropped off in the secure drop box on the west side of the Howard County Courthouse or delivered to the county clerk’s office on the second floor of the courthouse during regular business hours.

According to Klanecky, after her staff collects ballots from the drop box at 5:00 p.m. on March 12th, the results of St. Paul Public Schools’ special election should be available later that evening.