4 Birch Run School Board Members Failed To Vote in Millage That Lost By 4 Votes

The irony of how a Birch Run millage proposal failed to pass is causing a big controversy in the small community.

The Birch Run school board is made up of 7 members, but voting records show that four of those member never actually voted in the recent millage proposal. The millage was to extend a nonhomstead tax that many deemed as crucial to the Birch Run schools operational budget. The craziest part is that the millage failed by just four votes!

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Obviously this has made some community members extremely upset, but judging by voter turnout for the millage vote, there are not many people that have the right to be mad. Voter turnout shows that only 17% of voters in Birch Run actually showed up to cast a ballot.

The focus should be placed on the poor voter turnout overall, but the four school board members are catching most of the heat here. Two of the members admit to not voting, and have given reasons ranging from too busy to a death in the family. The other two board members are claiming that they did in fact cast ballots, but they must have been lost.

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There is a recount scheduled for June 2nd, and if the result stays the same after the recount, there will be another millage proposal coming up in August.

The whole story seems like the plot of a bad political comedy, but it's actually happening in real life. The two board members that claim that they did vote are sticking to their story that they voted. One of the two even says that he voted in person, but after the security camera footage was reviewed, he was never spotted at the polling location.

This will be an interesting story to follow as the truth is revealed.

The focus has been around the school board members that did not vote, but there needs to be some more attention to the overall turnout. Only 17% of people voting is pretty pathetic, especially when it comes to school funding.

SOURCE ABC12