Benton County Election Officials Find Ballot Error

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County election officials say a programming error led to different ballots being given the same numerical label, but said it's impossible to say if any voters cast wrong ballots as a result.

Errors were discovered with ballots in two precincts, Precinct 48 and Precinct 53, according to John Brown Jr., chairman of the Election Commission. The errors weren't caught when the ballots were being prepared and then approved by the commission, Brown said.

"The Election Commission didn't catch that," he said.

The two ballots in Precinct 48 differed on a Springdale City Council race between Brad Bruns and Rick Culver, according to Kim Dennison, county election coordinator. Bruns and Culver are running for the Ward 3, Position 1 seat on the council.

In the Precinct 53 ballots, the difference was between ballots for voters in unincorporated Benton County. One ballot was for voters who live in the Northeast Benton County Fire Department service area who will not be voting on a county initiative for funding rural ambulance service through an emergency medical services district. Voters who should receive the other ballot style will vote on the EMS district and fee. Voters in both areas will cast ballots on a proposed property tax to fund the ambulance service.

Election workers discovered the errors Monday in the course of helping a voter and steps were taken to limit any problems, with poll workers being told of the error. Efforts were made to ensure voters in those precincts received the correct ballot, Dennison said.

"We told all of our polling sites to watch for that," Dennison said. "The main one it affected is the Lowell early voting site because it's right in that area."

The county can't change the programming on the machines in use during early voting, Brown said. The county hasn't received any complaints or questions from voters in Precinct 53, Dennison said. She also said the voting machines for election day are being reprogrammed to correct the problem.

Voters are the "last line of defense" in the event of ballot errors, Brown said. Information is posted on the county's voting machines about what to do if a voter has questions, Dennison said.

"We have a sign on the machines that says if you think you've gotten the wrong ballot please notify a poll worker," she said. "Do not press 'cast.'"

At least one voter who went to cast a ballot on Tuesday was given the wrong ballot, according to Bruns. He said he'll meet with election officials to discuss the issue.

"I notified them of the problem," Bruns said. "We're going to meet later in the week so I'll see what they tell me then. I don't have any idea what they're talking about doing as far as fixing it."

Bruns said he doesn't think the error was anything other than an accident.

"Nobody did anything intentional," he said. "If somebody made a mistake, they made a mistake."

Culver said he hadn't been notified of the problem by election officials, but he planned to contact them himself. He also said he will talk to supporters of his who live in Precinct 48.

"I really feel like they should have contacted us and at least given us a heads-up," Culver said. "I do know some people who live in that precinct. I'll find out how their ballots were."

There are 1,927 registered voters in Precinct 48, and 216 people had cast ballots in the early voting period as of Tuesday, Dennison said. Culver said he hopes the margin in the race is large enough that there will be no question about the final result.

"Let's just hope there's not a difference of 100-some-odd votes between us," he said. "If it's not that close there won't be any problem."