By Press Times Staff
HOWARD – Some voters in Howard today likely voted in a race for a district they don’t live in, said Chris Haltom, Howard, clerk/treasurer.
The village uses three ballot styles with Howard split into three state assembly districts.
At Green Bay Community Church at 8:05 a.m., a voter pointed out to an election worker the wrong ballot was being used.
The confusion was for Wards 2, 8 and 11 which contain Assembly District 4, and Wards 1 and 12, which contain Assembly District 89.
Voters in Wards 2, 8 and 11 were given the ballots for Wards 1 and 12 and vice versa.
Voters in Ward 7 were unaffected.
No other Howard polling locations were affected.
Before the mistake, was caught approximately 173 people voted on the table for Wards 2, 8 and 11 and 71 people on the table for Wards 1 and 12, Haltom said.
“Somebody texted me from over there to tell me what happened, so I said ‘OK, you got to switch the ballots outs, give them the ballots at the right table, and make a note in the chief inspector’s log to say what happened,’ and we called the state to tell them what happened and they said the only thing we could do is what we did do,” Haltom said.
He said it was “more than likely” that some people voted for a race in a district where they don’t live.
Because ballots are anonymous, there is no way to tell who voted for what race, and the ballots cannot be recalled, Haltom said.
Haltom said there has not been a mistake to this extent in Howard before.
“I think a few years ago, there was some ballot put at the wrong table, but I think they caught it at the first five or 10 votes, so it wasn’t this volume,” he said.