GREEN COVE SPRINGS — After having lost its lawsuit against the Board of County Commissioners, the Clay County School Board said it now will wait for the general election in 2020.

Although voter turnout is dramatically lower for a special election, the school board wanted to get ahead of House Bill 5 becoming law on Jan. 1. That law will prohibit the use of a special election to raise taxes.

There simply wasn’t enough time to appeal a judge’s decision. The school board has the right to ask for an election, but the BCC has the responsibility to set it. To get the election done before House Bill 5 goes into effect, the election would have to occur on Dec. 31 at the latest.

“By law, the (BCC in this instance) has to ask (the Supervisor of Elections office) if voter books are available to give us, in this case, an opportunity to prepare for an election,” Clay County Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless said. “We need enough time to prepare so based on the timing, I have to respond and say either ‘yes or no.’”

School board chairwoman Carol Studdard said during last Tuesday’s meeting she wants the board to approve a resolution to put the half-cent sales tax referendum on the general election ballot.

The school board said it needs $318 million in additional revenues to fund maintenance projects.

While there are no laws regarding how far in advance a request for a special election, Chambless said that by law, his office must send out ballots to overseas and out-of-state military members and associated civilians at least 45 days before an election. Because of that requirement, Chambless would need to send out mail-in ballots by Nov. 17.

That date would have put the special election on Dec. 31.

The last sales tax placed on a special election years ago garnered a voter turnout of 24%, a number Chambless said he must sadly call phenomenal.

“You wouldn’t think that number is great because it’s not a lot of people,” Chambless said. “That (24%) is a phenomenal number compared to some of our other turnouts though.”

Chambless said he believes House Bill 5 was created was voter turnout, especially since voter turnout during a general election is higher than 70%.

“Special elections don’t garner the same attention as a general election and the way I see it, the (state) probably doesn’t want such a small subsection of voters deciding on things like a sales tax which would affect everyone in the county,” Chambless said.

While elections are, by default, political in nature, Chambless stressed his office must remain apolitical. The supervisor of elections office is a facilitator of elections, according to Chambless, and regardless of the type of election, his office focuses solely on getting the ballot prepared for voters.

Law dictates that Chambless’ office must send out mail-in ballots 45 days in advance, but he said his office usually needs about 90 days to comfortably get everything in order for an election. Chambless said his office is almost always 80% prepared, which is generally the most prepared they can be ahead of time. The other 20% is reliant on what each individual election needs.

That 20% includes things like the election’s custom-made ballot. If the school board had opted to continue pursuing this special election, Chambless would have needed the requested information by Oct. 3.

Chambless said he and his team will always do what they can to give voters the chance to express their voice.

“Elections is in our name,” Chambless said. “We’re here when the statutorily-authorized body asks us the question, ‘are the books available?’ and we’ll respond and get to work.

“That’s what we do. We do elections.”