Incorrect ballot programming at a split precinct in Magnolia caused some voters to miss out on casting their vote for the District 5 South Pike School Board seat.
Incumbent Veronica “Ron” Thomas faces challenger Sam Hall for the seat.
Polls are open until 7 Tuesday night.
Pike County Circuit Clerk Roger Graves said Tuesday afternoon that pollworkers discovered a problem at the Magnolia Community Center and notified Graves’ office around 8:15 a.m.
“We found out about and Brenda (Williams) went over there and taught them immediately,” Graves said. “Hopefully, it hasn’t happened again.”
He explained that the touch-screen machine manager had to be hospitalized Friday, and Graves’ office had to get a replacement at the last minute. He thought the fill-in worker and other pollworkers would know what to do.
“They got confused about how to program the ballot,” he said of the split precinct.” Based on where they live, “some people get to vote (for school board) and some do not.”
Graves said a code in the poll book distinguishes the two ballots, and apparently, some people got ballots coded incorrectly.
“I’m going to say I’ve probably identified five or six people who had the wrong card,” he said.
Unfortunately, those voters who completed their ballot, even though it was programmed incorrectly, cannot vote again.
“They were disenfranchised, and I hate it,” Graves said. “These things happen ... with split precincts. But, we caught it early and dealt with it as soon as we discovered there was a problem.”
And Graves reminds voters to look at their ballots carefully before they take the final step of casting them by machine.
“It is somewhat the voter’s responsibility. If they get a ballot and they think there should be somebody on the ballot who is not, they have the right to say, ‘I don’t think I have the right ballot.’ I’m not blaming the voter, but each person does have some responsibility.”
Graves said if the school board vote comes down to a handful of votes, the candidates have the right to petition the election commission.
