The Carmel Clay School District is planning events to inform voters about the operating referendum in the municipal election in November. According to Superintendent Michael Beresford, early voting will take place throughout October.

“I will keep doing all these different events until the election day (on Nov. 7). In October, that’s when early voting starts, so I’ll go and I’ll work at the polls to make sure people are informed,” he said. “Our whole goal is that we have informed voters. The actual ballot question is a little misleading when you read through it. It sounds like we’re increasing the tax rate, but we’re not.”

Beresford said the district hosted three referendum town hall meetings in September to reach out to community members.

He said, “My big hope is that community members will feel comfortable and come (to these events). The people that are involved with the school, they get a lot of information from us. People who don’t have kids in school or their kids have graduated, you know, they tend to not be as connected because they’re not getting the information every day.”

Liam Hansen, president of Young Republicans Club and senior, said he encourages eligible students to vote in the election.

Hansen said, “As the future generation of this city, we have a unique opportunity to influence how our municipal government will be run for the next couple decades, and I hope it serves as a motivator for our age group this November.”

Beresford said the referendum will change the image of Carmel Clay Schools if it is not passed.

“The most important thing is we don’t want anybody to go to vote and not be informed about how important (the referendum) is. That’s hard to do with 100,000 people,” Beresford said. “We’re going to do our very best. We’re going to do everything we can because it really isn’t about Dr. Beresford or the school district, it’s about you guys. It’s going to affect your education if it doesn’t go right.”