Trailing candidate: JP race ballot error changes nothing

“There was a 24vote difference in my race, and the discrepancy was not enough to make a difference. They proved that to me.” Phillip Blankenship, trailing candidate in District 9 justice of the peace race

BOONEVILLE — Logan County’s District 9 justice of the peace race was left off a few Republican primary ballots, but the mistake was caught early and the county’s Election Commission made a good faith, effective effort to fix the problem, the losing candidate said Thursday.

“There was a 24-vote difference in my race, and the discrepancy was not enough to make a difference,” trailing candidate Phillip Blankenship of Booneville said. “They proved that to me.”

“I have the utmost respect for the commission. I’m really impressed by the whole process,” Blankenship said. “They answered all the questions I had, and when they didn’t know the answer right away they went in and checked it to make sure. They were very honest.”

Blankenship lost his race against Samuel Tabler by a 9874 vote — a 24-vote gap. Blankenship said he and his wife noticed the race was left off their ballots when they went in to early vote about five days after early voting began. The election found a total of nine people had already voted early in the precinct affected by the omission. All subsequent voters were reissued corrected ballots, he said.

“We want to thank Mr. Blankenship and Mr. Tabler for their grace, understanding, and class in handling this issue,” the Logan County Election Commission said in a news release issued Wednesday. “To the citizens of Logan County, the election commission will implement procedures to eliminate any future problems of this nature. We take each person’s right to cast his or her ballot and the public’s confidence in our election process very seriously.”