PUHSD officials not ready to concede defeat of Measure W

Officials of the Perris Union High School District have not given up hope for the passage of school bond Measure W, even though additional vote counts released Thursday showed virtually no change in the margin by which it is failing.

The $148 million bond, which PUSHD officials say is needed to complete funding for a new high school in Menifee, needs 55 percent approval to pass. In election results released late Tuesday night, the measure had only 51.82 percent "yes" votes.

On Thursday, Riverside County election results were updated to include some of the vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots and damaged ballots that were not in the original count. Adjustments like these traditionally take place in the few days following election day and usually do not affect the outcome.

In the Measure W voting, the "yes" votes increased only slightly, to 52.40 percent of the votes. The Registrar's Office announced Thursday that there are 188,000 vote-by-mail, 45,000 provisional and 5,000 damaged ballots yet to be processed, but that is for the entire county. Only registered voters in Menifee and Perris voted on Measure W.

Even so, PUHSD is not ready to consider alternatives to funding the new school, planned to be built just east of the Menifee city limits.

"We are extremely proud of all the volunteers who worked tirelessly to support Measure W," said Candace Reines, deputy superintendent of PUHSD, in an email to Menifee 24/7. "Over 50 percent of the community has come out to say YES, and we appreciate that.

"There are still many votes to count, so we are waiting for the final results to make any decisions."

In other races, the numbers also varied only slightly and have not changed any outcomes. In the Menifee City Council District 4 race, projected winner Dean Deines lost just one vote in his lead in the additional count and still has a 100-vote lead over Gloria Sanchez among the 3,624 votes counted at this point.

Here are the updated results for local races: