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line, which was May 27.
• That means activities association officials can't be sure they've received all ballots until well after the deadline. This year, Bennett County's ballot arrived a week late -- delayed because the school wrote the wrong address for the activities association on the envelope. Because it had been postmarked on time, it still counted. Bennett County voted yes on the reorganization.
• The experience with this year's election has activities association officials seriously exploring a system of electronic voting.
• "We'll work through that, and hopefully we'll have something in place by the next item we have an election," Carney said. The next activities association election would be in spring 2015.
• The association is exploring whether it needs to change its constitution to allow electronic voting. That constitution requires signatures on each ballot, but it's unclear whether an electronic signature could count.
• Still, while electronic voting might make the process faster and more efficient, it wouldn't prevent human error.
• "Let's be honest: We're dealing with adult professionals," said Whalen, who is a member of the activities association board. "Somebody takes a vote, and then whoever is responsible ... for getting those into the state activities association (doesn't do it). Will that not happen if you try to do it electronically as well? I don't know."
• Despite the recent defeat, supporters of reorganizing the activities association board plan to push for continued changes in the future.
• "At first blush, we just need to go out and probably do a better job on our part of explaining it, breaking it down," Carney said. "If we do that, I'm confident that we'll run it again, although I can't say that because that's not my decision."
• Carney said he'll explore different ways to word the amendment to satisfy various concerns -- possibly splitting up the reorganization into smaller pieces, or adding a board member instead of changing one of the current seats.
• Only that follow-up vote will tell whether the small schools who almost pushed this reorganization over the top will continue to support it.
• "Sioux Falls is the driving force behind it," Whalen said. "The question is, is it an issue for the rest of the state?"
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