Friday afternoon, ten days following the Municipal Primary Election, the Marshall County Election Board had to certify the results.
Before certifying the election there were three provisional ballots cast on election day that had to be determined by the board to be eligible or not.
The first paper ballot was from an individual that had lived in Center 5 but moved to Center 8 before the election. They wanted to vote. The County Election Board determined the voter was not eligible to cast a vote and the provisional ballot was rejected.
The second provisional ballot was a mix-up between a husband and wife. They arrived at the Knight of Columbus vote center at the same time and presented their IDs. The wife voted first but signed on the husband’s name. When the husband tried to vote the poll pad indicated that he had already voted so he voted a provisional ballot. The County Election Board determined the mix-up was due to poll workers not comparing signatures and photo IDs and both husband and wife’s ballots were eligible. The election board ran his ballot through the machine, and it was counted. The wife’s ballot was counted on election day.
The County Election Board will address this issue with poll workers during their training before the November election.
The third and final provisional was for a voter who had a change of address. He was given a provisional ballot to vote but instead of filling out the paperwork wrote a note on the ballot saying there was too much paperwork to fill out. The Election Board didn’t have to make any determination since the voter failed to fill out the ballot.
The May Municipal Primary Election results were certified at 896 voters on election day, 76 absentee paper ballots, and 218 walk-in paper ballots for a grand total of 1,190 voters.
The County Election Board also noted that the parties have until July 3rd at noon to slate any additional candidates to fill the ballot vacancies where no candidate ran in the primary.
