"Yes" Vote Leads $363 Million Cherry Hill Schools Bond Issue, Early Results Show

CHERRY HILL, NJ — A "yes" vote leads the results in a special election for the $363 million bond proposal to improve Cherry Hill Public Schools, unofficial results show.

The Camden County Board of Elections is reporting 12,945 ballots cast as of 11:17 p.m. Thursday. This includes 8,841 mail-in ballots, and 4,131 votes cast in person.

Provisional ballots were not counted in the latest tally. That update shows the "yes" column leading by 8,892 votes to 4,053, or by 68.69 percent to 31.31 percent.

There are 59,818 registered voters in Camden County, making the turnout in Thursday's election 21.69 percent thus far.

For the mail-in ballots, 6,287 were "yes" votes (71.27 percent) on the proposal and 2,535 were "no" votes (28.73 percent), according to unofficial results.

Officials confirmed problems at at least one polling location Thursday. Several locations did not have confidential envelopes for voters to put their provisional ballots into, said Cherry Hill and county officials.

Camden County spokesman Dan Keashen said there was an issue with the electronic poll book databases at St. Mary's for districts 7 and 45 which "was resolved early in the morning." Read more — Issues Fixed At Cherry Hill Polling Locations, Officials Say

The last bond to pass in the township was a $52 million referendum in 1999, according to Cherry Hill Tomorrow, which encouraged voters to turn out. In 2018, voters in the township rejected a $210 million bond referendum failed for the district. About 10,750 people turned out for that election.

If passed, the 20-year bond term would raise property taxes for Cherry Hill homeowners. Money from the bond and the state would flow into the school district's 19 buildings, for improvements Superintendent Dr. Joseph Meloche said help make sure schools are "usable, safe, and secure" for the future. Read more — Cherry Hill Special Election: What To Know For Oct. 6

Garrison Architects and "a diverse team of experts" created the $363 million plan, which includes "significant" renovation and/or addition work in all 19 school buildings.

The Cherry Hill School District serves 10,596 students, per National Center for Education Statistics data.

Patch will be updating this story Thursday evening as results come in from the Camden County Board of Elections.