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Last updated 8:51 am CT February 09, 2010.
Election Results Are In (Again)
More than a month after April's municipal elections it turns out not all the votes were counted. Now that an error's been discovered, results have changed.
"I'm here to tell the public today and the news media that there is an error," Saline County clerk and recorder Willie McClusky told reporters Friday. He says he discovered the error Thursday.
Votes from eight precincts weren't counted on election night. In the Galatia and Carrier Mills precincts they made a difference in the outcome.
"Carrier Mills is going to be wet by seven votes. The apparent winner in Galatia is going to lose by one vote," McClusky said.
Ronnie Bond was the top vote getter in the Galatia school board election on election night. McClusky says he went on to be named school board president. He now loses that title. The newly counted votes found Eric Gates will sit on the board instead.
"The reaction of Eric Gates was hysterical laughter," McClusky said.
It wasn't so funny for McClusky who had to deliver the difficult news. He knows that in Carrier Mills--where a liquor issue has split the community--some folks may not take the news well, but the alternative would have been worse.
"I can live with the people who wish that Carrier Mills was dry instead of wet and the displeasure with that. What I [couldn't] live with is if I knew [election results were] wrong and didn't do anything," the clerk said.
According to McClusky, after scanning voter history and importing it into the voter registration system it became apparent that the number of votes tabulated by the system on election night did not correspond with the number of voters casting ballots in the following precincts: Carrier Mills 1 and 2, Galatia, Independence, Long Branch, Mountain, Raleigh and Stonefort.
The uncounted votes were cast by absentee ballots.
Each precinct's ballot box has a card, similar to a computer disk. After polls close, those cards are read by another machine and votes are tallied. According to the clerk, a log indicated that the card with absentee ballots was never inserted into the system. McClusky called it human error.
Legally affected parties have five days to contest the new election results, but the clerk says he believes they will hold up in court.
"Obviously the votes were there. Obviously they were good votes. Obviously they should count," he said.
By Dana Jay
djay@wsiltv.com
Now: 1265729592
