Quilcene voters were rejecting a 20-year, $12.3 million bond to pay for the new elementary school, according to the initial vote count Tuesday for the April 26 Special Election.

It was an unwelcome turnaround for the Quilcene School District.

The district had put Proposition 1 before voters in February, and the measure fell to defeat by only a handful of "no" votes.

Prop. 1 requires 60-percent approval from Quilcene voters to pass.

In the initial count of ballots just after 8 p.m. on Election Night, Prop. 1 had 49.33 percent of "yes" votes in support, and 50.77 percent of "no" votes in opposition.

The first tally had 385 votes in favor, and 397 votes against.

A total of 782 ballots were counted on Election Night.

Proposition 1 was expected to help finance a replacement for an outdated elementary school building that’s been in use for eight decades and would be too costly to remodel and bring up to code, according to district officials.

The property tax increase was also needed to construct a new Career and Technical Education Building, and make athletic facilities and field improvements at the Quilcene campus.

Tuesday marked the Quilcene School District’s second try this year in getting the bond measure approved.

The district first asked voters to approve the bond measure during a special election in late February, but that ballot proposal narrowly missed the 60 percent “yes” vote needed for passage.

District officials said that February election came up five votes short of passage for Prop. 1, with 59.37 percent voting “yes.”

Tuesday's vote showed an even more lopsided defeat for Prop. 1.

During the lead-up to Election Day, however, Prop. 1 supporters stressed that property taxes wouldn't go up if the ballot measure was passed, and said the tax rate would stay the same as the level currently paid by Quilcene property owners since the passage of the district’s capital levy in 2020.

The April election will be certified as official on May 6.

In recent weeks, Quilcene officials and the district's consultants have been considering a two-story structure being built just south of the existing high school and middle school if the bond measure passed.

The number of registered voters who live within the boundaries of the Quilcene School District has risen since the February election.

Earlier Tuesday, county elections staff estimated the number of eligible voters at 1,629 in the three precincts participating in the April 26 Special Election.