12 precincts supported Beaufort County school board referendum. Was yours one of them?

Ten of the 12 Beaufort County precincts that supported the school board's $76 million referendum Saturday were in Bluffton, where four of the six proposed projects would have been built.

A breakdown of unofficial precinct results highlights the lack of countywide support that led to the measure's 72 percent defeat. Official results will be confirmed Friday.

Bluffton's voter turnout was in line with other county precincts — ranging from 2 to 12 percent — so there were not enough Bluffton supporters to offset the opposition. Countywide, voter turnout was around 11 percent.

Not a single northern Beaufort County precinct supported the measure that would have provided their children with a $5 million career and technical education facility at Beaufort High School.

The remaining $71 million would have gone toward a new Bluffton school, expansion of two other Bluffton schools and career and technical education facilities for Bluffton and Hilton Head Island high schools.

Board member JoAnn Orischak predicted last fall that Bluffton would have to carry the referendum to passage. The Hilton Head representative also foreshadowed a lack of support from island voters.

The results show just one Hilton Head precinct — Hilton Head 2B and Daufuskie's sole precinct — supporting the request. The other 10 precincts that voted in favor were in Bluffton.

To find your precinct, visit https://bit.ly/1f7x4MF.

There was more buy-in from the public for the board's $217 million bond referendum request in 2016. Thirty precincts supported that ballot measure. Fifteen of those were located in northern Beaufort County and four were on Hilton Head.

The measure still failed, but by a much narrower 45-to-55 percent margin.

This story was originally published April 24, 2018 at 2:06 PM with the headline "12 precincts supported Beaufort County school board referendum. Was yours one of them?."