Spokane's School Bond Needed Three-Fifths—It Didn't Get It
A $400,000 building plan for School District No. 81 lost by 88 votes on the face of the returns, but the three-fifths rule turned that into a 149-vote defeat.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Spokane—The proposition to issue $400,000 worth of school bonds for building purposes was defeated by the voters of school district No. 81, by a vote of 453 in favor to 571 against. The majority against the bonds, on the face of the returns, therefore, is 88; but when it is considered that a three-fifths vote was required to carry the bonds, the actual majority was 149. The total vote cast was 1,054, and three-fifths of that number is 632. The vote was less than 50 per cent of the total registration, which was 2,415. The bonding scheme carried in only two wards—the first and the fourth—and split even in Bisbee precinct, which is outside the city limits but included in the school district.
“The majority against the bonds, on the face of the returns, therefore, is 88; but when it is considered that a three-fifths vote was required to carry the bonds, the actual majority was 149.”
School bonds still turn on turnout and supermajority rules; a measure can win a bare majority and still lose. Spokane's 1903 vote is a reminder that procedural thresholds, not just public opinion, decide whether classrooms get built.
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