(KNZA)--It will later this month before the final results of the Brown County special question for the Hiawatha Community Hospital are known.

Unofficial results Tuesday evening showed the 10-year, half-cent countywide retailers' sales tax being defeated by a three-vote margin—1,264 votes in favor to 1,267 against.

However, the Brown County Clerk's Office reported 40 provisional ballots were cast during the election and they will be considered when ballots are canvassed during the November 18 Brown County Commission meeting.

A provisional ballot is used at a  polling place to record a vote when there is some question regarding a voter's eligibility.

Its the second time the hospital has sought tax support. During a special election in May, a similar sales tax proposal was defeated by a 29-vote margin.

Hiawatha voters Tuesday approved a quarter-cent retailers sales tax for recreation by a 110-vote margin.  513 votes were cast in favor of the sales tax proposal and  403 votes against.   It will replace the existing quarter-cent sales tax for the town's historic post lantern street lights, which is set to expire March 31, 2020.

Two proposed school bond issues were defeated Tuesday.

Voters in Holton USD 336 turned down by a more than 190-vote margin a $4.5 million general obligation bond issue for completion of upgrades to the heating and cooling systems at Holton High School and Holton Middle School.  

Voters in Onaga USD 322 defeated by a more than 160-vote margin a $8 million bond general obligation bond issue to fund the construction of a new elementary school and to remodel the district kitchen.

Voters in Marshall County approved by a more than 130-vote margin a 5-year, half-cent countywide retailers sales tax for Community Memorial Healthcare in Marysville.

Jackson County voters approved by a wide-margin renewal of a four-tenth percent countywide retailers' sales tax for another seven years for road and bridge improvements. 

Doniphan County voters approved by a nearly 300-vote margin renewal of the countywide one percent retailers' sales tax for an additional five years. Funds from the tax are used for capital improvement projects, road improvements, upgrades to the county's 911 system and to provide property tax relief.

(AP) - Kansas has ended an unusual practice for redrawing the lines of legislative districts that has cost university communities political clout. Voters on Tuesday approved an amendment to the Kansas Constitution eliminating a requirement for the state to adjust federal census figures when the Legislature redistricts itself every 10 years. The adjustment counts college students and military personnel not where they're living but in a "permanent" home elsewhere.