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The sixth try was a charm for Marco Island, as majority area registered voters decided to make a majority of the incorporated Collier county island into a city.

The decision to incorporate passed by 142 votes – 3,221 for and 3,079 against.

There was a 73.3 percent voter turnout, one of the smallest turnouts in the six times incorporation has come to a vote in 1980. The only vote that was lighter was in 1982, when 72.3 percent of voters showed up at the polls and incorporation was defeated by 63 votes.

Our of Marco's estimated 12,700 year-round population, 8,946 were registered to vote as of August. 1. In august, the county elections office sent out 8,892 referendum ballots, accounting for address changes.

Absentee votes were the major determining factor in this year's mail-in referendum. There were 1,327 absentee votes for incorporation and 804 against. The turnout rate for absentee ballots was more than 96 percent among those who requested them.

On-island voting had less pronounced results. Only two precincts out of six favored incorporation. The two precincts both located near Collier Boulevard south of San Marco Road, favored incorporation by only a s small margin of one vote in precinct 694 and 28 votes in precinct 695.

Precinct 692, which contains areas surrounding Bald Eagle Drive south of Collier Boulevard and surrounding Heathwood Drive south of San Marco Road, was against incorporation more than any other precinct, with 555 no votes and 328 yes votes.

The Collier county Elections Office counted 6,523 total votes as valid from the 8,892 sent out to registered voters. Of those, only 6,300 voted for or against incorporation. The remaining 223 were cast without choosing a side, said Mary Morgan, Collier County supervisor of elections.

The Collier County Canvassing Board, which consisted of Morgan, Collier Commission Chairman Tim Hancock and County Court Judge Cynthia Ellis, determined 256 ballots were invalid for various reasons, including lack of signature, lack of residential address or because the person who signed the ballot has died before Aug. 28. The ballots were not counted.

The board also decided to have Florida's state attorney general look into two cases were voters requested off-island address changes before Aug. 28.

Because the ballots for those two cases were already separated from their secrecy envelopes, Morgan said, they were still cast as votes. Morgan said she was glad the referendum hadn't come down to two votes.

Among other ballot mishaps were a card punched with a hole punch and a vote checked off on the ballot page instead of punched on the card. Morgan said both cases were counted as valid because the voting intent was still clear.

There was also one case where both "yes" and "no" ballot hold were punched. The ballot wasn't counted, Morgan said.

Fourteen people, including four League of Women Voters volunteers and three part0etimne elections workers, helped with the elections process, Morgan said. The election cost an estimated $30,000, an amount which will be repaid by the new city of Marco Island.