The polls are officially closed. Check back with Brighton Patch for results after 9 p.m.

City of Brighton Precinct 2

As of 6:30 p.m., Brighton City Hall had seen 336 voters, including absentee ballots.

Poll workers again said that this has been a really good turnout, much higher than the Primary election in February.

Christopher Jablonski said he voted yes for the bond.

"I think we have to continue to invest in our community and we have to invest in our future, which is our kids, and make sure we have the best environment, technology and resources for them," he said. "It's important to be competitive."

Brighton Township Precincts 3 and 8

By 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Brighton Township polling location at Spencer Elementary School already had 76 voters - a higher amount than usual, according to poll workers.

Brighton Township Clerk Ann Bollin said the township has had "a flow of steady traffic" through the polls so far this morning.

"It is unusual," she said. "I've had a Brighton Area School election where one precinct saw less than 12 voters."

However, voters like Brighton Township resident Carol Estes felt voting in this election was the right thing to do.

Estes voted no for the school district's $88.4 million bond issue.

"I felt that it was too much bundled into one ballet proposal," she said. "I think they need to come back in November and separate the technology issues out from the maintenance and building facility issues."

Estes said that she was in support of the bond proposal up until two days ago, when Mark Wilson, a Brighton parent and member of a group of parents campaigning for the bond called Friends of Brighton Area Schools, sent out a mass email to parents telling them to vote yes in the election.

"Somebody sent out a response to that email agreeing that we should have new technology, but that there were these maintenance issues coming in that should have been in the budget already. And after we build these new facilities, what are we going to have next time? Another maintenance issue because they're not putting it in the budget. That just made sense to me. I have a house and I have to maintain it."

David Car was also out at the Spencer Elementary polling location to cast his no vote on the bond proposal.

"I think the proposal as it's worded right now, they want to fix too many things that don't need to be fixed," Car said. "If they cut the bond issue down and fixed what needed to be fixed, like buying computers for the kids, fix the pool and a few leaky pipes, fix the roofs, but to build a new weight room and a new football fields - when I played football, we played on grass, not astroturf. I would have voted to fix what's needed, not a big wishlist. I'd like a lot of things too. I'm not against kids, or the school."

Car also said that his wife would probably be in later to cancel out his vote.

Township resident Robert Nelson said he voted yes for the bond.

"I've lived here 16 years and I've been around a lot of other communities and it's very evident to me that we need to take the time and fund the projects to fix our schools and our facilities," he said. "I have three kids that went through Brighton schools, but none in right now. So I have nobody that is going to benefit from this other than us as a family and as a community."

City of Brighton Precincts 3 and 4, 8:40 a.m.

As of 8:40 a.m., the City of Brighton precincts 3 and 4, located at the Brighton Education Community Center (BECC), had seen 122 voters.

Poll workers said that number was up from what they had seen during the primary election in February.

Brighton resident Pam Chaundry said she voted yes on the bond proposal because she has two children, one in high school and one in elementary school. 

"I'm usually at the schools on a daily basis and I see all of the help the schools need, not only with technology, but with building repairs," she said.

Dan Webber also voted for the bond because of his two children in the school district. Webber said he moved here because of the good schools and they need the upgrades, especially in technology.

Both Denielle Ziegler and Cathy McClelland also said they voted for the bond because they want to see the improvements made to athletic facilities and the buildings themselves.

"My kids are involved in a lot of different activities in the Brighton area," McClelland said. "Not only athletically, but academically, Brighton is very far behind - their technology in the classrooms, their athletic facilities. And being a resident here, I want to keep the property values up."

Brighton resident Scott Montgomery said he voted no.

"I don't want to create more of an issue with taxes than we already have," he said. "I think the school district needs to live within its current budget, maybe look at the student unions and administrative costs to cut back there before we raise any more taxes."

Continue reading Brighton Patch as we follow the school bond election.