8:36 p.m.
With 21 of 21 precincts reporting: The levy has passed!
Final tally: For the levy – 1,717, Against the levy – 854
More than two-thirds of voters supported the levy.
8:31 p.m.
With all but two precincts reporting:
For the levy – 1,674 , Against the levy – 815
Waiting on Arlington and Selbyville.
8:21 p.m.
With 14 precincts in:
For the levy – 1,302, Against the levy – 551
8:13 p.m.
With eight precincts in:
For the levy – 847, Against the levy – 287
All city precincts have reported results. There are a total of 21 precincts in the county.
8:11 p.m.
Upshur County Schools superintendent Dr. Sara Stankus and assistant superintendent Dr. Debra Harrison have arrived at the courthouse, along with several Board of Education members, including Kristi Wilkerson, Katie Loudin, board president Dr. Tammy Samples, Alan Suder and Dr. Greenbrier Almond. No results yet, but the suspense is building.
8:05 p.m.
We are still waiting on the first results to come in as of 8:06 p.m. We’ll post as soon as we know something!
7:44 p.m.
We’re live here at the Upshur County Courthouse. At 14 minutes past the time polls closed, no results have rolled in yet, and the crowd here is sparse. We’ll let you know when the first results come in. Thanks for sticking with us!
Original Post – 7:30 p.m.
The clock has ticked past 7:30 p.m. here in Upshur County, and that means the polls have officially closed. Today’s election had just a single item on the ballot: the Upshur County Schools special levy.
We’ll be providing updates from the Upshur County courthouse throughout the night as the votes are tabulated, but the combination of new voting machines, expected turnout and tiny ballot should make tonight a bit of a lightning round. (Knock on wood.)
As a quick refresher, the levy call keeps the same tax level as the prior levy, which expires June 30, 2019. School special levies must be voted on every five years.
The levy helps fund school safety and security, instructional supplies, technology, facility and equipment maintenance and more. This year, the school system also added free extracurricular passes for veterans and military members to the levy; they had done something similar for senior citizens five years ago.
In 2014, the levy passed comfortably, with 1,758 people voting for the levy and 1,342 against it. That came out to a 13-point margin of victory.
This year? We’ll see. Stay with My Buckhannon for updates!
