With Tuesday's razor thin defeat of Auburn's $66 million spending plan, there is already discussions about “what if” four more people had voted or if voter turnout had been higher and a plethora of other hypotheticals. The board of education would be wise to put such discussion aside and look beyond the “ifs” of Tuesday's vote.

One of the feelings expressed by those disappointed that the budget did not pass in a nearly 50/50 split is that voters didn't know that the controversial issue of turf, part of the referendum that is on next month's ballot, was not part of Tuesday's vote. Such rationalizers don't give credit to voters, who are smarter than some may think.

It would be one thing to think that in such a close vote where only a few people vote (say a board or town hall meeting) that you might have people misinterpret a resolution. But when you have nearly 1,400 vote against something, you have to be rational and know that the vast majority not only knew what they were voting on, but were not happy with the status quo.

What is most interesting about Tuesday is that while 50 percent of the votes cast went against the budget, nearly 75 percent of the votes cast for candidates went to two incumbents (current board president David Lansford and vice president Charles Cator) and the person who won the most votes, Karol Soules, who had said that she wanted to join these “two gentlemen” and be part of the current team.

So voters, in essence, liked the people in charge, but didn't like their work product.

What is not clear is why those who like what is going on in local schools didn't show up.

According to one poll-watcher, about 15 percent of those eligible showed up at his polling site. In the end, those who have a “mission” to defeat something tend to show up in force and will solidly go out and vote, whereas those who believe that passage is just a matter of process aren't as motivated. That may be the biggest message from Tuesday that may have seen voter turnout at its lowest since budget votes started in the 1990s.

The board now has decided to put the same budget before voters again. The theory likely being that those who do not want to see a contingency budget will go out and unlike this time around, get the vote out - passing the budget. It is not clear if that will be the case, but it is now up to supporters of the current budget plan to get the vote out.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com