Elections officials in Arizona's most populous counties say they need another day at least to count ballots that will determine the fate of a proposal to tap the state's land trust fund to boost education funding.
County recorders in the state's five largest counties said Wednesday they have more than 112,000 outstanding early and provisional ballots to process and count. Most said they expect to actually count the ballots Thursday and possibly Friday.
Arizona voters were almost evenly split on Proposition 123. The measure backed by gov. Doug Ducey would pump $3.5 billion into the state's K-12 school system over 10 years using general fund and trust land cash.
The measure held a tiny lead Wednesday with 50.5 percent of the vote. It must exceed 50 percent to pass.
