Mason school elections now in even years

January 17, 2011
By CHRISTIE BLECK
cbleck@lsj.com

MASON - Mason Public Schools has made the switch from holding regular November elections to even years.

According to Superintendent Mark Dillingham, as of last December, the Michigan Election Law, as signed by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, allows school districts that hold their regular elections in odd years only to change to the even years.

Dillingham said that Mason made the switch is cheaper for the district.

"If we didn't make the switch," he said, "it would have cost us approximately $19,000 to conduct a stand-alone election in 2011."

Two of the four open seats for the Mason Board of Education at the November 2012 election, Dillingham pointed out, will carry a four-year term. One seat will carry a six-year term and one seat will carry a four-year term until the November 2016 election, after which it will be a six-year term.

Two of the three open seats on the board at the November 2014 election will carry a four-year term and one will carry a six-year term.

The terms are staggered, Dillingham said, so that no more than three board members seats would be up for election in any one year. The exception is 2012 because of the change in the law allowing the district to switch to even-year elections.