“Vote yes on Issue 27!”
“Would you like a sample Democratic ballot?”
Campaigning pleas rang out Tuesday morning as advocates for candidates and issues made their final pitches to a line of people who wrapped around the Summit County Board of Elections building on the first day of early voting.
Their activity overshadowed the low din of volunteers directing traffic.
Today felt like Christmas, said Akron Board of Education Member Barbara Sykes, who made sure she was one of the first people in line to cast a ballot. Sykes, like the other school board members advocating on site for the Akron schools’ levy, voted yes on Issue 27.
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A primary selling point for pro-levy advocates is the rebuilding of North High School, one of the last remaining district schools that hasn’t been replaced in recent decades. The structure, built in 1931, is hindered by a litany of problems, including a leaky roof and asbestos-laden walls and floor tiles.
Issue 27 combines two levies — the first is a 7.6-mill operating levy that will raise $25.7 million annually and cost homeowners with an appraised value of more than $100,000 an additional $266 each year.
The second is a 1.3-mill levy for a new North High School. It would raise $4.4 million annually for 35 years to repay an $85 million bond. This would cost an additional $45.50 each year for homeowners with a home valued at $100,000.
In total, the levy will cost an additional $311.50 annually for Akron homeowners whose homes are valued at $100,000.
A single vote will approve both the operating and the construction levies.
Every kid should have an equal opportunity
“I was here bright and early at 8, and it was already wrapped around the building,” Board of Education President Diana Autry said of Tuesday morning’s line of early voters.
Autry and Sykes were joined by Board Member Rene Molenaur and by Carla Chapman, the district’s chief diversity officer and leading member of the Citizens Committee – Akron Public Schools. Chapman took the day off work to advocate for the levy – the first APS has brought to voters in 12 years.
Voters who spoke to Signal Akron on Tuesday were generally supportive of the levy, even if some said they wanted more accountability from the district and balked a bit at the cost of the measure.
“My heart is in the public school system,” said Terry Germany, a West Akron resident who said she voted to support the levy.
Germany, who worked as a long-term substitute teacher and substitute secretary for years in Akron Public Schools, said she wanted more fiscal accountability from the district. If it’s taking money from taxpayers, she said she wants to know how that money will be spent.
“I do think that the tax levy is quite high, it seems like to me,” said Charles Thomas, another West Akron voter. But the cost of the levy, coupled with recent increases in Akron’s property taxes, wasn’t prohibitive to him.
“I believe in education, and I believe every kid should have an equal opportunity,” Thomas added. “… I think if all the other buildings are upgraded and updated and all that, then you should definitely do the last one.”
Chapman, who arrived early Tuesday morning with Autry, said she’s received useful feedback from voters during her canvassing efforts.
“I feel really positive,” Chapman said. “The reason I feel positive is because we’re talking to people who vote. And people who vote have been positive everywhere we went.
“People get it when you give them the facts.”
Early voting will be available most days — from now until Election Day on Nov. 5. See below for the full early voting schedule.
