No appeals made on provisional ballots

FAYETTEVILLE -- None of the voters who had to cast a provisional ballot in the Nov. 3 election chose to contest the decision.

The Washington County Election Commission scheduled time Thursday morning for provisional ballot hearings in the event a voter who was told to cast a provisional ballot wanted to contest it. No one appeared at the hearing.

Provisional ballots are issued to voters if there are questions about their voting status. The reasons include the voter not providing the proper identification, not appearing in the county's voter registration records or having requested an absentee ballot and then deciding to vote in person.

The county had 760 provisional ballots as of election day.

The Election Commission last week reviewed 484 absentee ballots that arrived on election day and about 580 provisional ballots where the signatures of voters were questioned by poll workers. Of those, the commission accepted 732 ballots. Those ballots brought the vote total to 94,713. Washington County has 140,744 registered voters so the turnout for the election is about 67%.

Jennifer Price, election director, told the commission about 30 voters brought the required identification to the Washington County Clerk's office by the Nov. 9 deadline and those ballots will be added to the total today. Price also said some military overseas ballots haven't been returned. Those ballots can be counted if they are returned by today.

The Election Commission will meet at 1 p.m today to oversee the counting of the remaining ballots and certify the results of the election.

A number of voters who were issued provisional ballots when their names didn't appear on the voter registration records told election workers they registered at the State Revenue Office when they were getting driver's licenses or conducting other business, according to Price.

Max Deitchler, a member of the Election Commission, said it has been a recurring problem some people who register to vote when they are at the Revenue Office find the information never reached their county clerk's office.

Renee Oelschlaeger, commission chairwoman, said voters should exercise some personal responsibility and check their registration.

Deitchler called the flaws in the system an embarrassment and said voters shouldn't be denied the right to vote because of a failure of a government program. He said employees at the Revenue Office are directed to ask people if they want to register to vote and voters should be able to rely on the system.

"This is a fundamental failure of government," he said. "I've been on the commission for six years, and this happens every single election cycle that people register at the DMV and show up to vote and are told they're not registered."

Price said state law doesn't allow for such errors to be addressed by an election commission. She said anyone who is issued a provisional ballot because they are not listed as having registered is given a voter registration card at the polling place.

"Our main concern at this point is to get them registered so they will be able to vote in the next election," Price said.