SANDPOINT - Bonner County commissioners canvassed the results Tuesday of last week's primary election, including the hotly debated West Bonner County School District levy.

Voters rejected the $3 million levy request last in March, but the district put it back on the ballot for the primary. Immediate election returns indicated it passed last Tuesday by an 11-vote margin.

Once the dust from the election settled, however, the Bonner County Clerk's Office reported that it actually passed by a 28-vote margin, with 1,344 voting in favor of the levy and 1,316 voting against it.

Neither outcome was close enough to trigger an automatic recount, although determined levy foes are apparently considering whether to petition for one.

Under Idaho law, levy opponents have 40 days to contest the election's outcome.

Levy opponents urged commissioners to postpone certification of the election's results due to allegations that levy supporters engaged in electioneering at the polls and other schemes to foster its passage.

Daniel Furtney of Citizens for Families, a group formed in opposition to the levy request, said pro-levy signs could be seen within 100 feet of two polling precincts - Priest River Elementary School and Priest River Lamanna High School.

"West Bonner County School District staff actively campaigned during school time for the levy," said Maureen Paterson, another opponent of the levy. She added that students were encouraged to write letters of support for the levy.

Sharyl Dovale, a former school district student, claimed she was bullied out of school by teachers when she wrote a letter to the editor challenging the levy.

"When the first levy failed, the teachers held me up to the other students as a symbol of the anti-levy movement. They turned me into a pariah," said Dovale.

Levy foes further alleged that they had guns pulled on them by levy advocates, but law enforcement has been apathetic.

Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler disputes allegations that those reports are not being investigated.

"Yes they are, and have been looked into," Wheeler said, adding that one allegation involved a juvenile who pointed a toy gun with a red barrel cap indicating the gun was not real.

School district Superintendent Ellen Perconti said she is aware of the accusations of students being browbeaten for opposing the levy.

"But we have no evidence that any of that is true," she said.

Commissioners told opponents they had no choice but to certify the election results if the returns were genuine and did not appear to be forgeries.

"We're obligated by statute to do this," said Commission Chairman Cary Kelly.

Commissioner Mike Nielsen said the board's role as the election's canvassers was "very limited."

"We are not sitting here as judges. We don't have judicial authority," he said.