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RCC among schools keeping a close eye on voter turnout From wire and staff reports SALEM - The roof literally is falling in at Warrenton Grade School, so officials there are hoping voters pass a $5.2 million bond measure for that and other needs. But mainly they hope people will just vote in the May 21 primary. That's because a low vote would doom their measure because of the state's so-called double majority law. The law says if fewer than half of registered voters cast ballots for a local property tax-related measure, it loses regardless of the outcome. Nine community college and local school districts have bond measures on the primary election ballot, along with some other local government measures. Among the community colleges in the hunt for voter support is Rogue Community College, which is seeking approval of a $40 million bond measure. If the measure is approved, RCC would spend $22 million to buy and build technical facilities in White City and $18 million to consolidate its downtown Medford campus. Officials promoting money measures fear that voter apathy could prevail in an election that even Gov. John Kitzhaber calls "a real sleeper." Kitzhaber said he's disappointed that the major party candidates who are in the race to succeed him as governor "simply haven't taken any definitive positions" on key issues such as the education funding crisis. "I think people are checking out," and not paying attention to the election, said Kitzhaber, who is barred by law from running for a third consecutive term. That worries Craig Brewington, superintendent in the Warrenton-Hammond School District, where a ceiling panel dropped into a classroom because of the school's leaky roof. Brewington said a poll last fall in the 870-student district indicated more than 60 percent of voters would favor the money measure. That obviously won't mean much if more than half the voters throw away their mail ballots. Eugene School District backers plan mailings and phone banks as they try to pass the biggest school measure on the primary ballot, a $116 million bond issue to build four new schools and upgrade other buildings. "We're concerned," said Barb Bellamy, district communications director. "We have two ways to lose and one way to win." Voters passed the 50 percent voter turnout law in 1996 as part of a constitutional statewide property tax limit. A measure to repeal the double majority mandate narrowly failed in 1998. Foes of the law say it's senseless to allow people to effectively vote "no" by doing nothing. "We don't think it's fair that people are allowed to throw an election out by not voting," said Ron Paradis, information officer for Central Oregon Community College. The Bend college has a $35.8 million bond measure for new buildings on the primary ballot. Bill Sizemore, the Clackamas anti-tax activist who wrote the 50 percent requirement, defends it as stopping government "from sneaking through" tax increases at low-turnout special elections. "If a government is not able to get even half the voters to show up to vote, it certainly demonstrates there's no groundswell of public support for their issue," he said. The double majority rule doesn't apply to measures at the November general elections in even-numbered years, when voter participation generally is high. Paradis said one reason the college measure is on the primary ballot is that there usually are fewer advertising distractions than in a general election. "Things aren't as cluttered, so you have a better chance of getting your message out," he said. Officials also say a May election has the advantage of settling a money issue before the next school year's budgets are adopted. That's one reason a $2.4 million school maintenance bond issue is on the primary ballot in the Enterprise School District, a two-school, 540-student district in northeastern Oregon. "We're trying to keep from cutting more programs and teachers" by using bonds instead of other operating money for repairs, said Superintendent Bill Eggers. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.