There is still time to vote by absentee ballot in the special election next week for Monongalia County Schools.
The district is asking voters to consider renewal of the excess levy, which funds several academic enrichment programs, among other extras.
Voters may apply for an absentee ballot until Sept. 20, said Carye Blaney, Mon County Clerk.
Ballots must be returned by mail and postmarked no later than Sept. 25, the day of the election. Visit https://www.monongaliacountyclerk.com/ and click on the “Elections” tab for more details.
The phone number for the County Clerk’s office is 304-291-7230.
Meanwhile, early voting continues for the election, Blaney said.
Ballots may be cast from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through Sept. 22 at Mon’s Election Center at the Mountaineer Mall, she said.
The center is open Monday through Saturday for those hours, Blaney said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a total 522 ballots had been cast, she said. Early voting began last week.
Save for one or two defeats at the polls, the excess levy has almost always passed — and usually by resounding margins — since it was first introduced to voters and the school district 48 years ago.
Nancy Walker, the longtime Board of Education incumbent and president of the BOE, said it’s a misnomer to describe it as an “excess” levy.
What it does, she said, is enhance what the district is able to do for its students.
It helps fund the district’s bevy of foreign language offerings from elementary to high school, she said, along with other extras — “that make us who we are,” she said.
Another line item is the $17 million outlay for long-term disability insurance for employees, to go with disability and vision benefits for them as well, Walker said.
The district is projecting an additional $32 million to school coffers, should the levy pass.
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