The $97 million bond issue to build a new middle school in Renton inched closer to approval, following the release of Thursday’s results in Tuesday’s special election.

However, the question is whether enough ballots remain to be counted to reach the required 60 percent yes vote. Wednesday, the county Elections Division received 2,165 ballots in the mail.

As of Thursday, the elections office has counted 15,989 ballots, or 28 percent of the 56,811 registered voters in the Renton School District. The latest results show the bond with 57.96 percent yes votes and 42.04 percent no votes.

Since the initial release of results Tuesday, the yes percentage has increased slightly with each new tally: 56.57 percent on Tuesday, 57.17 percent on Wednesday and Thursday’s 57.96 percent.

The school district’s four-year maintenance and operations levy, which pays for the day-to-day operations of the district, and the technology levy won handily, both with slightly more than 60 percent yes vote. The needed a simply majority to pass.

The Renton School Board is considering its options now should the bond measure ultimately fail. It must decide at its Feb. 29 meeting whether to place the measure on the April 17 special election ballot.

Results are released weekdays at about 4:30 p.m. The final results will be post on Feb. 28.