Voter intent was the topic of discussion during a special called meeting of the Carter County Election Commission on Monday morning as the group reviewed a list of approved spellings for write-in candidates for Thursday’s election.
The commission voted unanimously to approve a chart compiled by the local commission and the State Election Commission listing acceptable spelling variations of the names of certified write-in candidates for the county’s general election.
“The chart for the write-ins is what I have been going back and forth with the state on,” Administrator of Elections Tracy Harris said.
The list contains a variety of spelling variations for the first and last names of the four candidates running write-in campaigns. Chris Mathes is challenging Republican nominee Dexter Lunceford in the race for Carter County sheriff; Donna McKinney is challenging Republican nominee Johnny Blankenship for the Circuit Court clerk’s post; Jason Shell is challenging Republican nominee Roger Colbaugh for the superintendent of roads position; and Jerry Miller is running a write-in campaign against Republican nominees James Bowers and Scott Whaley for constable in the third district, with the top two vote getters in that race being elected to constable.
Harris said she began compiling the list of possible spellings and submitted it to the state election commission, who then returned the list to her with additional possible spellings added. She said the multiple spellings list allows those hand counting the write-in votes to determine the voter’s intent when casting the vote.
She also specified that in the case of write-in votes, the last name of the candidate is essential to having the vote count.
“By the state’s guidelines the first name alone won’t count but the last name alone will,” Harris said, adding that for any vote to count for a candidate it must include some variation of the last name.
For example, a voter wishing to complete a write-in for John Smith could type in J. Smith, John Smyth, or Johnnie Smythe and their vote would count but if they only typed in John S. the vote would not be considered countable.
“Personally I don’t foresee a lot of misspelling. I believe the people of Carter County know how to read and write,” said Paul Souder, member of the Election Commission. “I don’t think the people of Carter County are going to be that far off base in spelling these write in names.”
Harris said while the list of acceptable spellings is long, it is not all-inclusive of all the possible variations on spelling of the candidates names.
Despite his statement that he did not foresee problems with the list of spellings, Souder suggested the commission give itself some leeway in counting the votes. He provided other members of the commission with a statement he said he wanted attached to the name chart which will be given to election canvassing workers who will be counting the write-in votes.
“Listed below are some likely name misspellings for write-in candidates that will be accepted as votes for these candidates. This list is a representation of possible variations on a candidate’s name, but acceptable votes are not limited to the variations on this list,” the statement drafted by Souder said. “If a ballot has a write in candidate’s name on it and the spelling of the name is not on this list, that ballot will be set aside and a determination will be made by the Election Commission.”
Commission Chairman Doug Buckles said he thought the statement would be a good addition to the list of names and would allow the canvassing workers and the commission itself to determine the intent of the voters.
The commission unanimously voted to attach the statement to the list of acceptable spellings.
Counting of the write-in votes will begin on election night, Harris said.
“At 8 p.m. when the tapes are run from early voting we will start with them,” she said, adding that as the precincts report in those write-ins will be taken to the canvassing room to be counted.
The counting of the write-in votes will be held in the mayor’s conference room on the second floor of the courthouse. Harris said once the counting starts for the write-in ballots, the election workers must stay until all the votes have been counted.
Harris reported to the commission that her office had received complaints from voters —as well as two complaints which were forwarded to her from the state election commission — regarding candidates and the 100-foot boundary around the polling place.
According to Harris, the complaints stated that candidates for the August election were seen inside the boundary talking to voters. She said upon receiving the complaints the allegations were investigated but neither she, her staff or any of the election poll workers had observed any candidates violating the boundary line.
Some of the complaints which had been reported, Harris said, involved current office holders who are seeking re-election and are unopposed on the August ballot.
“Appropriate action was taken,” Buckles said. “We went outside and checked on it.”