Published: June 19, 2008 12:10 pm            

Clark County election board admits mistakes

The Clark County Election Board is investigating ways to fix ballot mistakes that occurred at split precincts during the May 6 primary election.

Jerry White, who lost his bid for the District 6 seat on the Greater Clark County School Board to incumbent Robbie Valentine, said that the wrong ballots were given to voters, and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote in school board races.

“I will never know whether I would have won that election,” White said. “When 18,000 ballots are cast and I lost by 95 votes, it only takes a few votes in each precinct to make a difference.

“I’m not trying to get back at anybody, but I don’t want this to happen again.”

The three precincts in question, 36, 37, and 38, have voters who are eligible to vote for the school board races for GCCS or Clarksville Community Schools, and include 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by the general election in fall, but are ineligible to vote for the school board because the school board elections are decided in May.

Jeffersonville resident Debbie Davis sent a letter to the board relating how her 17-year-old son received a “regular ballot” on election day, and was allowed to vote in the school board race, though his 17-year-old friend received a ballot that did not include the school board race.

“I believe the individuals working the polls need to be informed in properly distributing the correct ballots for an accurate result,” Davis said. “It makes me wonder how often the wrong ballot was given out and what a huge impact it could have on the outcome of an election.”

Amy Hermann, a 17-year-old Charlestown resident, also informed the council that though she was told prior to the election she was ineligible to vote in the school board race, when she arrived at the polls she was told she could only vote in the school board race. The election board acknowledged Wednesday mistakes had been made at the polls.

“In those three districts there were 624 votes cast for the four candidates in the District 6 race, clearly enough to raise questions concerning the outcome of the race,” White said. “A number of ballots were given out without discerning the GCCS district voters from the Clarksville school district voters. There were many instances of poll workers not being educated as to the various ballots and their correct usage.”

Clark County Clerk and Election Board President Barbara Haas confirmed mistakes were made at polling places in May.

“I agree there are some problems, and that we can make changes in future elections — training of poll workers is essential,” she said. “Everybody just wants it to be fair to everyone.”

The election board discussed several ways to prevent further mistakes from occurring at the polls. Poll worker training was optioned as the best way to inform poll workers from mixing up ballots. Mandatory training, though, is difficult to require of poll workers because the pay is minimal and there is already difficulty in finding people who will work for minimum wage from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“It needs to be a group of people that are civic-minded,” said Glenda Kovert, who attended the meeting to air her concerns regarding the school board race. “It isn’t a civic-minded world we live in anymore.”

Haas and others suggested offering incentives to poll workers who completed training, as well as pay cuts for those who don’t get training. The board decided to form a committee to find ways to address mistakes that were made in May, though meeting dates and members have not been decided.

        

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