School Election Results

Putnam Valley's school and library budgets for next year were both approved today and the school board trustee will be Jay Lee. Here are the votes that the school district posted Tuesday night:

School district budget: 985 voted yes; 876 voted no.

School board trustee: Jay Lee received 900 votes; Crystal Hernandez received 836 votes.

The library budget was approved by a vote of 1,018 to 844.

Last year, the controversy over last year's capital bond proposal had the effect of raising voter turnout from a dismal 16% in January to 28% last May when the capital plan was re-presented and ultimately approved. This year's election results show that the surge of voter participation generated last year was not completely sustained. Of the 7,968 who were eligible to vote this year, voter turnout dropped to about 23%.

Nonetheless, the impact of voter turnout can be seen in this year's trustee election. Three years ago, when Hernandez first ran for that position, she won with 791 votes. This year, she lost despite getting 836 votes.

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