Ames residents and Iowa State students overwhelmingly voted down a $2.4 million referendum Tuesday that would have helped to add 1,465 new seats to Hilton Coliseum.

The unofficial election results were 3,634 opposed to and 1,347 in favor of the expansion, according to the Story County Auditor’s Office. The $2.4 million referendum included increasing the city’s hotel/motel tax by 2 percent for renovation and expansion of Hilton.

The measure received only 27 percent of the vote; it needed 50 percent to pass.

Ames City Councilman Herman Quirmbach, who has been an outspoken opponent of the expansion, said the outcome of the vote came as no shock to him.

“I am not at all surprised by the outcome of the vote based on the phone calling that the opponents did this weekend,” he said.

Quirmbach said the opponents of the referendum made about 300 phone calls to Ames residents and students last weekend and found support for the expansion to be weak.

“We found very few people that would say they were going to vote ‘yes’ on it,” he said.

Murray Blackwelder, vice president for External Affairs, said Tuesday in an interview with KASI 1430 AM that he did not know why the expansion plan failed.

“It’s disappointing to me. We had an opportunity to take action today, and we didn’t,” he said. “The election results just support the status quo as far as I’m concerned.”

Stacy Walshire, president of the ISU Democrats, said she was pleasantly surprised by the vote.

“I’m very excited, and I am very shocked,” she said. “I’m just so happy because I thought this was completely wrong for the students.”

Walshire said she thought the vote would pass because of the amount of advertising and financial support from the proponents of the measure.

“From the way that they held up the ‘yes’ side, I thought we were going to be blown out of the water,” she said. “They used a lot of money on their side, whereas we had no funds. We just used the word of mouth.”

Walshire said her primary concern with the Hilton expansion plan was the lack of lower-level seats allocated to students.

“I wouldn’t find opposition to an expansion if they added more seats,” she said. “It was just that they were only going to give us 186 more for men’s basketball and 300 more for women’s basketball.”

Matt Craft, president of the Government of the Student Body, said he felt the vote represented a declaration by Ames residents that the expansion was not needed.

“I think this is a clear statement that this is not something that the city of Ames wants to pursue at this time,” he said.

Craft said he was unhappy and surprised with the outcome of the election.

“I am disappointed because there is no doubt in my mind that this is something that would have benefited the ISU students as well as the city of Ames,” he said.

“I definitely thought it would be much closer than it came out,” Craft said. “Hopefully, the trend of losing concerts won’t continue, and I guess our seating situation will stay the same.”

Quirmbach said he was pleased that Ames residents rejected what he felt to be an unfair proposal.

“It wasn’t a very good package to put in front of voters,” he said. “Ames residents and students are smart, sophisticated, intelligent people. When you try to sell them nothing for something, people here in town and the students know better than to go for it.”

The failure of the vote also displayed ISU students’ dislike of the athletic seating policy, Quirmbach said.

“I sensed and have sensed for a long time that students have a deep dissatisfaction against the seating policy for men’s basketball,” he said. “Intercollegiate athletics should be a student-centered activity. Until the athletic department comes to terms with that, there will continue to be discontent with students.”

Despite the failure of the referendum, Blackwelder said the necessary improvements to Hilton Coliseum, including adding restrooms and complying with fire code and Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, will still be done.

“Some improvements will be made as soon as possible,” he said. “We have always pledged to keep the facility safe and comfortable, and we will continue to do that.”

Blackwelder said he doubted the issue would come up for a re-vote.

“I think we tried to make it clear that the [Iowa State] Center complex has some maintenance issues and operational costs problems, and I guess we’ll have to find other ways to finance those,” he said.