Voters had to wait a little bit longer for Tuesday’s election to be final. Following the voting canvass this morning, the Board of Election Canvassers adjourned until 2:30 p.m. following tabulation of provisional ballots.
During this morning’s canvass, Lyon County Commissioners Rollie Martin and Scott Briggs served as the board of election canvassers. Commissioner Teresa Walters excused herself from the board because of professional involvement in the city’s smoking ban question.
Vopat said this morning there was a 27 percent voter turnout with 5,532 votes cast in the county. Following reconciliation of the votes from the precincts the provisional ballots were considered. The results are below:
Vopat recommended to commissioners that 67 provisional ballots be counted. The reasons they were provisional include:
• 52 — the voters moved within the county from the precinct in which they were previously registered. Each voter completed a new registration form.
• 4 — the voters had a name change.
• 3 — the voters married (a name change) and moved although they were already registered in the county.
• 1 — an advance ballot was sent out, but the voter was hospitalized and voted a provisional ballot there instead.
• 2 — election board worker errors; failed to have the voters complete a new registration form.
• 3 — voted in an incorrect precinct
• 1 — voter lives at Holiday Resort, but wasn’t on the mobile voting list; and
• 1 — was living at Holiday Resort temporarily but was registered in another city precinct.
Another 15 ballots were not recommended to be counted because the voters were not previously registered in Lyon County, so could not vote a provisional ballot.
Four additional votes were presented for consideration by Vopat. Assistant County Counselor Michael Halleran recommended one ballot be counted and the other three be rejected. The ballot he recommended to be counted was a provisional ballot cast by a person whose registration was canceled by request of a relative who had power of attorney.
The relative said the person was not mentally capable to vote. Halleran said the voter was able to get to the polling place, request a ballot and vote. An unpublished opinion states that power of attorney cannot delegate voting rights. That vote was counted on Halleran’s recommendation.
The other three votes were not counted on Halleran’s recommendation because the voters were not registered.
Tell (anonymous) says...
Darn the gazette won't be able to print the late breaking news until Saturday. Ah but K.V.O.E. will have it live.That old Sauder is good.
April 10, 2009 at 1:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glarson (anonymous) says...
Don't worry; The Gazette will be in the courthouse live as well... just as we were this morning when we were the first to report that the decision wouldn't be announced until 2:30 p.m.
We'll be posting to our Web site as the action happens. And if our Web site is slow because of traffic on it, check out Facebook. We'll link there, too.
Gwen Larson
April 10, 2009 at 2:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kittenslvsu (anonymous) says...
This is a sad day for Emporia
April 10, 2009 at 2:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Tell (anonymous) says...
Gwen
If your going to respond why don't you respond to last Saturdays article. Do you really think it was a fair and impartial article? The study done by unnamed people at unnamed places with a undescibed piece of equipment do you really think it was creditable information? Do you think the timing of the article was just? I would really like to know your response.
April 10, 2009 at 3:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
olddog (anonymous) says...
DEVELOPING: SMOKING ORDINANCE WILL SEE RECOUNT
By Chuck Samples/KVOE News
Details haven’t been released yet, but Lyon County Clerk Tammy Vopat tells KVOE News the smoking ordinance question will have a vote recount.
Emporia Open For Business representatives Steve Corbin, S.C. Dixon and Matt Slater said they would not seek a recount after the general election last Tuesday and the provisional vote canvass last Friday. At this stage, it’s unclear if they have had a change of heart or whether somebody else paid the $250 recount fee.
Vopat will ask three election supervisors to count the over 4,700 ballots in question. The votes will get hand-counted as requested.
A recount date has not been set but should happen this week.
Emporia voters barely approved the smoking ordinance. Yes votes won 2,369-2,363 – a percentage margin of 50.006-49.994.
The ordinance question became one of Emporia’s most heated discussion points in years after Clean Air Emporia requested a nearly-total smoking ban for the city’s public places in September. In December, city commissioners passed an ordinance similar to the Clean Air Emporia proposal, but Emporia Open For Business successfully led a petition drive to put the issue on the April 7 ballot.
The ordinance went into effect immediately after Friday’s announcement. The Emporia Fire Department is responsible for enforcing the ordinance unless the recount overturns the current result. The Emporia Police Department has already received one complaint on a potential violation.
Stay tuned to KVOE for developments on this story.
April 13, 2009 at 12:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
josiesbar (anonymous) says...
Thanks for the update, olddog. I'm not sure who is asking for a recount, but its not me.
Matt
April 13, 2009 at 12:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )