Yuma County goes ahead with school board elections

  The Yuma County Board of Supervisors took no action Wednesday on whether to cancel school board elections, so the candidates remain on the ballot and the election will proceed as scheduled Nov. 4.

  Board clerk Sue Stallworth told the board that Arizona statute allows cancellation of elections when the number of candidates is equal to or less than the number of positions available. It was not a recommendation but merely her duty to inform the board these elections met the criteria for cancellation, she noted.

  The six of nine school  board districts that lack adequate candidates are Antelope Union High School, Crane Elementary, Yuma Elementary, Hyder Elementary, Mohawk Valley Elementary and Wellton Elementary.

  Stallworth also pointed out that written requests were received for election cancellation from Antelope's superintendent and from the Yuma County Pest Abatement District and the Martinez Lake Fire District. The latter two were granted by the board of supervisors.

  District 4 Supervisor Tony Reyes said that under the present economic  times, the schools would probably want to consider better use of funds than holding elections when there is an inadequate amount of candidates and that cancellation seemed to be common sense.

  Yet District 2 Supervisor Russ McCloud pointed out, voters have the right to know which candidates have community support.

  "I can understand it sounds like it makes common sense but I believe we are not doing a service by canceling elections. It is important to know what the voter count is."

  Yuma County School Superintendent Tom Tyree reminded the board that there is still the question of whether to consolidate school districts on the November ballot. There is a proposal by the state's School District Re-Districting Commission to merge nine county school districts into five.

   Were it not for the consolidation measure, canceling school board elections would make significant savings, Tyree noted. Yet aside from the issue of saving taxpayers money, there is the issue of ensuring that people have a voice in the election, he stressed.

  "I'm not telling the board one way or another what to do but there is really no savings to be made," Tyree said.

  "You have not had more requests for cancellations from governing board members because they understand there won't be savings. And I don't believe Antelope realizes they won't save significant sums of money by making their request."

  Stallworth added that the company that produces the election ballots informed her that including the school board election on the ballot will not increase the ballot budget.

  No action was taken on the school board elections yet a motion was made to cancel the Yuma County Pest Abatement and the Martinez Lake Fire District's election which passed unanimously with a 5-0 vote. Since no action was taken on the school board elections, they will go ahead, Stallworth noted.

  District 1 member Gary Wright said he was pleased with the outcome.

  "I'm happy there's no interruption with school board elections, and the write-in candidates will be honored by the elections going ahead," Wright said. "If there's going to be any appointments, I trust the judgment of Tom Tyree to appoint any candidates to those positions."

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William Roller can be reached at
wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.