“many voters are expected to oppose a ballot proposal” – who did the author talk to? What a sloppy line and reporting. Okay, technically 600 could be many. Good on ya, Cburg!

Reply: I think this may indicate that somebody somewhere is not quite on the pulse of the town citizens. Probably the most important issues and the one that was certainly bi-partisan, citizens did not realize the town had to pay to have those ‘special elections’ and taxpayers do not want money wasted. A lot of people liked having the elections be a special town event in May, until they found out their tax money paid for it. A lot of people just wanted things to change period. A lot of people were unaware that they had the right through referendum to get the changes that they wanted. Referendums can be very useful devices for the public to make sure government is doing what is in the best interest of citizens. A vote is a powerful thing. Personally, I was amazed at how this issue affected turnout. I knew that the people I spoke with ran about 10 to 1 in favor of moving the vote. I just never expected a record turn out for voting on a Christiansburg issue.

Anonymous Reader says:

Your link to election results is titled “unofficial” and it is sort of sad to see less than 40% of all eligible voters bothered to make up their mind – & vote. It also shows Mr. Session has more ballots cast in his favor but area media outlets are saying there was an error and the incumbent won that school board seat. Were all the mistakes at the state level or did someone make a major error in reporting this race?

Reply: There were errors on the spreadsheet at state level and a typo that may have been at local level (I’m not positive about that last one. I’m waiting to see if there are any changes at the SBE level tomorrow.