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Grand County voters reject Proposition 103, elect school board members

Tonya Bina
tbina@skyhidailynews.com
Grand County, CO Colorado

Grand County voters overwhelmingly rejected a five-year tax increase in support of schools, with 71.14 percent against and 28.86 in favor.

According to Grand County Clerk and Recorder Sara Rosene, about 52 percent of active voters turned in ballots in the Nov. 1 mail-ballot election, considered a fairly good turnout.

A final canvass of the results will take place Nov. 14.



The following are official results:

West Grand School Board



Incumbent Brett Davidson garnered the most votes in running for one of three at-large seats on the West Grand School Board.

Of the 1,697 total votes in the West Grand School District, 420, or 24.75 percent, were in favor of Davidson.

Incumbent Dean Billington and challenger Michele DeSanti were also voted in, with Billington taking 24.51 percent of votes and DeSanti 22.98 percent.

Davidson, Billington and DeSanti defeated Michael Lockhart and Jon Ewert. Lockhart had 14.91 percent of votes; Ewert 12.85 percent.

East Grand School Board

In District 2 of the Fraser Valley area, challenger Donald Scott defeated school board incumbent Joan Evans by 56 votes. Scott garnered 53.50 percent of the 2,228 votes; Evans, 46.50 percent.

In District 4, also of the Fraser Valley, incumbent candidate Chip Besse, who had been recently appointed to the board to fill the seat vacated by Gale Delphia, defeated challenger January Paulk by 101 votes. Of the 2,327 votes in that race, Besse took 52.17 percent; Paulk took 47.83 percent.

Taunia Shipman of District 1, who will represent Hot Sulphur Springs area and to the north past Lake Granby toward Grand Lake, ran unchallenged for the available seat left by Mike Thompson, who chose not to run again. Shipman garnered 2,035 votes.

Today, Nov. 2, is the final day for interested parties to turn in their bid for the available East Grand School Board position that primarily represents the original area of the town of Granby, a seat held by school board member Melissa Quinn, who also chose not to run again.

A few potential appointees showed interest, according to district officials, but learned they did not live within District 5 boundaries. No candidates ran for the seat in Tuesday’s election, and as of Tuesday evening, the board still did not have a potential appointee. If a qualified candidate does not come forth today, the president of the board Tom Sifers will be charged with finding someone willing from the community.


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