HELENA — The polls closed at 8 p.m. for the 2025 school and special district elections, and the ballots are being counted Tuesday evening.

WATCH:

In Helena, voters are choosing three trustees from six candidates and whether to approve 10-year technology levies for the high school and elementary school districts.

Two of the six candidates running for the three trustee positions are incumbents.

Siobahn Hathhorn, the current board chair, and Kay Satre a Carroll College professor.

Preliminary results show the incumbents, along with Jenny Murnane Butcher, who has worked with local non-profits and as an adult education instructor were elected.

The potential closure of Hawthorne Elementary School has been a hot topic this election, with the final decision coming up in June.

Three of the candidates, Hannah Warhank, John Kein III, and Carrie Jones, are parents of Hawthorne students.

Ten-year technology levies are also being voted on for the high school and elementary districts.

The Helena elementary school technology fund levy asks for $1,979,500 annually for ten years.

The Helena high school technology fund levy asks for $870,000 annually for ten years.

By a narrow margin, both technology levies failed.

The last technology levy was passed over twenty years ago and provides just over one million dollars annually for the high school and elementary districts.

In a statement super Superintendent Rex Weltz acknowledged the likely defeat of the technology levees, and he said he understood the pressure under voters.

The district is also asked for an elementary general fund levy that would amount to nearly $300,000 each year for the general operations of the district.

The Helena elementary general fund levy passed by over one thousand votes.

Weltz says he is grateful for the passage of the elementary general fund levy, “We know that many in our community are living on fixed incomes and feeling the pressure of increased property taxes in recent years, yet chose to support public education

All vote totals are considered unofficial until canvassing, which takes place about two weeks after the election.