BILLINGS — Yellowstone County is counting ballots on Tuesday on two big school measures: a $5.1 million operational levy request from Billings School District 2 and a $62.8 million bond to improve Laurel High School.
The Billings levy covers both elementary and high schools. If approved, the owner of a $600,000 home would see a tax increase of $100, and schools would receive 5% to 7% in extra funding.
The vote comes during ongoing teacher contract negotiations. Billings Teacher Union Education President Lance Edwards said teacher contracts expire this year, and as of Monday, they were making good progress, hoping to finalize teacher contracts before school is out.
Related: Billings school trustees ask voters to approve two levies totaling $5.1M
In Laurel, the district is seeking to tackle deferred maintenance projects and complete significant upgrades to the facilities housing the school's trade programs, such as welding and Family and Consumer Sciences.
Related: Laurel proposing $62.8 million bond for high school repairs and upgrades
Yellowstone County Election Administrator Dayna Causby warned that a high number of ballots are at risk of not being counted.
"So we have found that voters, we are still experiencing a high rejection rate for our ballots. Voters have been missing the new requirement to include the birth year on their ballot," Causby said.
Last October, a new state law went into effect requiring voters to place their birth year on absentee ballots. This caused hundreds of ballots to be flagged in Yellowstone County in last November's election, although many people were able to add their birth year before the final count and certification. About 2 percent of votes countywide were rejected during that election, around three times larger than normal.
Ballot counting began at noon Tuesday and runs until 8 p.m. Voters whose ballots have been rejected have until Wednesday at 5 p.m. to add their birth year.
