Tomorrow the vote count will be known in the Nebo School District bond and tax election, but it's already obvious that the process for approving school bonds needs some rethinking.

The election on June 23 was for approval of a $160 million bond to build seven new schools, and for a new tax for building maintenance. This is a sizable chunk of money. As such, it is something that more voters should have had input on. The redrawing school boundaries, moreover, and the shuffling teachers and programs around will bring major changes to many families. Making it as easy as possible for them to have input would have been desirable.

Only 10 percent of the district's 57,000 voters turned out for this vote, and the result was so close that the final count is still unknown. A shift of few votes either way will affect the tax bills of thousands of families, not to mention the education of thousands of students.

It's simply too small a sample of public sentiment for such an important issue -- especially when a better alternative was available: a November vote.

The district scheduled the balloting for June, when many folks are away or busy with summer activities. And there were no other measures on the ballot that would naturally draw more attention, and more voters. With so few casting ballots, special interests can more easily sway the outcome.

The problem is made worse by the fact that the beneficiary of the bond election -- the school district -- is the same entity that's running the election. The school district, which is clearly not neutral, sets up the voting places and counts the ballots. In this case, the number of polling places was reduced, and some regular places were eliminated. This is just wrong if the objective is truly to measure public sentiment. Barriers to voting do not encourage voting.

Utahns should welcome a move by Republican Sens. Howard Stephenson and Curtis Bramble, who have already opened a bill file for a state law that would require all bond elections to be held in November. More voters show up then because the biggest offices and issues on the line, so there's less chance that a large bond could sneak through under the radar.

Nebo school officials have said they wanted to hold the election earlier so as to get construction started faster. For the future, they say, they'd like options. But these kinds of projects are huge ventures that must be planned for years. Setting a firm November date for an election shouldn't be a problem.

Whichever way the final bond vote goes on Wednesday, the district will be left in an awkward posture. A June vote with minimal voter turnout gives -- by definition -- a significant edge to passage. Therefore, a very close count likely signifies substantial discontent among voters. Had a larger body in a November election weighed in, there is a strong statistical likelihood that this bond would have been soundly defeated.

Moreover, if both measures -- bond and tax -- fail, that could be read as a rebuke from voters. The school board and district educators will need to re-think their approach, starting with political spin. The district was disingenuous when it told voters that a bond extension doesn't represent an increase when it clearly does, to the tune of several hundred dollars per household annually. It's like the bank extending your car payments past the payoff date. This makes the car cost more.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, another possibility looms. As of this writing, the margin on the leeway tax is narrower, which raises the possibility that the bond could pass but the tax could fail. What then?

District officials have repeatedly said the leeway tax was a very small amount -- $13.75 a year for a typical homeowner. But if it's so small, the district should be able to handle it without raising taxes. State government, counties and cities all over Utah have made painful but necessary budget cuts. Is it too much to ask Nebo to find the money elsewhere?

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