Tied or denied? Ballot reverses election’s outcome but vote may be discarded
Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/52304/
An overseas ballot that reversed the outcome of the April 10 election may ultimately be thrown out.
The Washington County Election Commission on Friday certified the results of the election recording the ballot cast by Michael K. Lee, who voted against the road impact fees. The fees had been approved by voters 2, 015-2, 014, which was the bare minimum needed to pass.
In bringing about a tie, Lee’s vote kills the fees, but discrepancies in the necessary paperwork raise a legal question of whether the vote should be counted. The ballot was mailed from a military base in Panama April 9 but was not received until April 18, two days before the commission had to certify the election results.
Lee reported his address differently on the application for absentee ballots, which was filed in February 2006 and on the voter statement that accompanied the ballot. The difference was 1630 and 1632, though the street was consistent. He also used three separate zip codes on various documents.
The law isn’t clear on whether the application and statements must be exactly the same, or if there is room for such a difference, something County Attorney George Butler is trying to determine.
Butler said it will likely be difficult to find any case law or attorney general opinions that will resolve the issue. However, he encouraged the commission to count the ballot because the law is generally against disenfranchising voters.
Should research find cause to discount Lee’s ballot, Butler said the commission can file an amended certification, thereby reversing the election. If that is the case, he said, there may be other issues with opening the ballot without being sure it could be counted.
Butler read through the procedure for dealing with absentee ballots before a full room of spectators, including Ward 3 Aldermen Bobby Ferrell and Bill Ramsey, president of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. The procedure anticipated multiple ballots and directed the ballots be put in a box after the names of the voters were read aloud, in an attempt to preserve the privacy of the voter.
John Logan Burrow, commission chairman, said he is of a mind to count every ballot unless it is clear that they cannot. He said that is a long-standing tradition in this county, which was responsible for getting laws changed in the late 1990 s to make it easier for those casting absentee ballots. Burrow said the changes were prompted by a large election that had 150 absentee ballots that couldn’t be counted.
“ It was heartbreaking, ” Burrow said.
The law isn’t that clear on who would contest the commission’s decision of counting the ballot, said Tim Humphries, general counsel for the Arkansas Secretary of State. Humphries said he was not aware of any case law or attorney general opinions that spoke to the issue and would defer to Butler as for whether the ballot should be counted. The matter of who would contest is equally unclear.
If the election is contested, its not likely to be from the primary sponsor of the measure on the Fayetteville City Council. Ward 4 Alderman Lioneld Jordan considers this a win either way it comes out.
“ Regardless of how it comes back, I am thrilled to death with the vote, ” Jordan said. “ For us to start our campaign three weeks before the election and pull 50 percent of the vote, to me is a victory. We were outspent 40 -1, and we still pulled 50 percent of the vote. ”
Jordan said the results of the election, combined with the support of five of the eight aldermen, has encouraged him to start looking at other impact fees. He said he has begun studying fees for schools, libraries and possibly stormwater runoff.
Mike Henry, who was with the group that campaigned against the fees, said his response to the news this time was about the same as it was when he heard about the one vote win, which was disbelief.
“ I’m not sure I’ve got a different response now. Maybe ‘ Praise the Lord ’ comes to mind, ” he said.
Henry said that his group will keep waiting for the outcome and is aware that someone may contest the results. Henry said he couldn’t help but compare this election to the presidential election of 2000.