Saline County Clerk and Election Officer Don Merriman says he’s hoping for a 50-percent participation rate when all is said and done in a stand alone bond issue this April.

Merriman stopped into the KSAL Morning News on Monday with a look at a mail-in ballot that will decide whether voters who live in USD 305 will green light a $110.7 million upgrade to district facilities.

Merriman and staff will be checking signatures as part of validating the ballots, “I don’t expect to get 28,000 back,” he said. “But if we go with a fifty percent return – 14,000 is still a lot. But that’s part of what we have to do.”

Election officials say the last day to register to automatically receive a ballot is coming up March 7th.  Merriman and staff will deliver ballots to the Salina Post Office on Friday, March 21st to be sent to households around Saline County.

Back in December of 2013 the 305 Board of Education approved a resolution to place a $110.7 million bond issue on the April 8, 2014 mail-in ballot.

The vote will address district needs including safety and security, all-day kindergarten, career and technical education and improvements at both high schools, plus storm shelters at all the schools.