HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) – Hanover voters have rejected a proposal to elect the county’s school board members.
A question on the ballot this year asked voters if they wanted to start electing school board members instead of having the board of supervisors appoint them.
It was defeated with a margin of 53% to 47%, with all precincts reporting. (Provisional ballots need to be counted, and mail-in ballots could still come in, but The Associated Press called the referendum)
With the vote, Hanover County will remain one of a few Virginia localities with school board members picked by its governing body instead of voters.
Hanover Citizens for an Elected School Board, a nonpartisan group of county citizens, pursued a grassroots effort to collect signatures needed to add a referendum to the ballot for the Nov. 7 state elections — at least 10% of the county’s registered voters.
The group’s push followed years of efforts and calls for Hanover to shift to an elected school board, including from the county’s NAACP branch, advocates, parents and other residents.
Members pointed to recent decisions by the school board, specifically a vote in June giving members more authority over the books on school library shelves and a subsequent decision to ban several books.
They faced opposition from Keep Hanover Students First, a referendum committee backed by the Hanover Republican Committee.
8News relies on The Associated Press for calls on state legislative races and local ballot questions. All election results are unofficial until certified by the state Board of Elections.
