Budget and BOE Elections
by the Numbers
An analysis of the total number of votes cast in Huntington School District budget votes and trustee elections dating back to June 2005, shows public participation picking up and then trailing off again, depending on the specific year.
When Huntington's budget went down to defeat in May 2005, 3,657 ballots were cast. A revised spending plan was approved one month later when 4,102 residents turned out at the polls. However, participation faded during the ensuing years. In May 2006, only 3,626 ballots were cast. In May 2007, the total amount of votes plunged to 2,514, the lowest number in memory.
Participation picked up slightly the following year when 2,794 residents came to the polls in May 2008. The number of ballots dropped again in May 2009 when just 2,591 votes were cast.
After trustees voted 4-3 in April 2010 to create a sixth grade center at Jack Abrams School and move all fourth and fifth graders to Woodhull School, a total of 4,158 votes were cast in the May budget vote and trustee election. Three months later in August 2010, a capital reserve fund proposition that would have provided monies to construct a new wing at Woodhull School was rejected in a vote that drew 1,493 residents to the polls.
Budget votes and trustee elections in 2011 and 2012 resulted in 3,720 and 3,018 ballots being cast, respectively, according to figures supplied by Huntington School District Clerk Elizabeth Troffa.