Nancy Crocker of Jay checks in Tuesday with ballot clerk Pam McAllister at Spruce Mountain Middle School in Jay for the Regional School Unit 73 budget validation vote. The vote was the final step in the approval process for Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls. The $22.17 million spending plan for 2022-23 received initial approval at a districtwide meeting April 7. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

JAY — A majority of voters in Regional School Unit 73 on Tuesday decided to continue having two votes to approve the annual budget for the next three years.

Residents of Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls went to their respective polling stations to validate the April 7 vote approving the $22.17 million budget for 2022-23.

In Livermore Falls, voters opposed the budget 43-37, but voted in favor of continuing the validation vote 54-25.

In Jay, the budget passed 215-110 and support for continuing the validation vote was 247-77.

In Livermore, the budget passed 144-113 and the tally for continuing the validation vote was 173-83.

The combined vote to approve the budget was 396-266. The total for continuing the validation vote was 474-185.

The district includes Spruce Mountain Primary School in Livermore plus Spruce Mountain elementary, middle and high schools in Jay. Children from those towns and Livermore Falls attend the schools.

At 3:30 p.m. Tuesday about 200 votes had been cast in Jay with 45 of them absentee ballots, Clerk Ronda Palmer said. Last year more than 400 votes were cast during the combined town meeting and school budget validation vote, although there have been as many as 800 for some municipal votes, she noted.

“It all depends,” she added.