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C.P. bond decision: dead heat Photo by Jim Craven Voters enter the dilapidated old gym at Central Point Elementary School Tuesday. Absentees may hold fate of school plan By VICKI GUARINO CENTRAL POINT -- Supporters of the school district's $36.7 million schools construction bond say early results from Tuesday's balloting are too few and too close to call. They're right. Late Tuesday night, the measure was passing -- by four votes out of more than 3,500 counted. Campaigners like Janet Crawford of Sams Valley say they'll probably have to wait until absentee ballots are counted later this week to learn the fate of the sweeping construction measure. By late evening, the vote stood at 1,769 in favor to 1,765 against, according to the Jackson County Elections Office. More than 14,000 are registered to vote in the school district. "These numbers are way too preliminary," said Crawford, who headed the Education is Forever bond campaign committee. "We've geared ourselves up to not taking these early numbers seriously," she added. "It's hard to feel we have anything to worry about. These numbers just really don't bother me that much." Crawford and other campaigners are veterans of a long effort to get funding for new schools and school expansion. More than a year of work went into the measure before it went to voters for the first time last spring. Although the bond measure won by popular vote, it failed because a majority of registered voters did not cast ballots. In Tuesday's vote, no majority turnout is required. The measure would pay for a new middle school in Gold Hill and a new elementary school in Central Point -- replacements for aging, substandard and overcrowded buildings. Both buildings are about 90 years old. The measure also would finance expansion at Crater High School and Richardson Elementary -- schools that have been overcrowded for a couple of years. Other, smaller improvements are planned for every school. Like Crawford, Superintendent Mike McClain remained optimistic through Tuesday evening. "Certainly, we're still in the running," he said. "We've all along been saying we'll probably have to wait until Friday." That's when absentee ballots are due to be counted. The county elections office has nearly 32,000 absentee ballots out -- a record number. The uncertainty about those uncounted ballots are a concern to bond supporters like Central Point Elementary School Principal Hal Oxner. "I don't know how it will affect us," said Oxner,"but traditionally, in the past, the absentee voters have been the more conservative voters who may vote `no' on the money measures." Bond proponents, however, may have meddled with tradition. The committee promoted absentee balloting as a way to gather support for the bond measure. The committee sent out absentee ballot applications to every parent in the school district -- some 3,000 mailings. "That's who we felt were the real `yes' voters," Crawford said. "They'll see their kids benefit from this, and they'll benefit because they'll see their property values go up. They have a real stake in this." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA