Commission votes to send PWSD bills for board elections
District’s costs estimated at over $21,000
Members of the St. Francis County Election Commission voted Thursday afternoon to bill the Palestine-Wheatley School District for this year’s school board election and runoff.
Commissioners unanimously agreed to bill the district over $21,000 for the two elections despite concerns voiced by district superintendent Jon Estes regarding how the election was handled.
Commissioners voted separately on sending bills for the election and runoff to the district, which had not held school board elections in several years. This year, however, all seven board members were required to run for the zoned positions.
Each of the seven zones had a different ballot style, which ended up being printed twice after an error was discovered in the ballot’s wording on the district’s millage after the first ballots were printed.
Email correspondence between the commission and the school district shows the district approved the ballot language on March 15, but notified the commission of the mistake on May 3.
Commissioners also heard from officials with First Security Beardsley, the agency that worked with the district on its bond increase in 2010, saying the ballot language was incorrect. The company provided commissioners with the correct wording and the ballots were reprinted.
“Sandra (Wright, election coordinator) had gotten confirmation from Mr. Estes’ office that everything was good to go, then they discovered ballot language on the millage had one sentence that was incorrect so we had to do a reprint,” explained commission chairman Chris Oswalt.
“My position is we that we did everything we could do – the clerk’s office as well as the coordinator – to make sure that we had things in order,” said commissioner Frederick Freeman in making a motion to bill the district for the first election. “Personally, I just think it’s a lack of communication on their part and documentation on their part.”
Estes also previously voiced concerns to commissioners regarding the runoff, claiming it should not have been held due Hazel Fingers, the Zone 3
(Continued from Page 1) candidate who did not make the runoff, being allowed to vote in the zone where she did not live. Even though she did not live in the zone, she was allowed to run for the seat on the board.
Incumbent Vernon Thweatt won the runoff, held on June 15, against David Hooker.
Prior to the runoff, Thweatt filed a complaint with the State Board of Election Commissioners regarding Fingers being allowed to vote, claiming her vote resulted in the runoff, which cost the district additional money.
In an email to the commission in late May, Estes wrote, “Surely, you are not expecting the district to pay for a runoff election because you messed up the first election? The district owns no fault in this.”
Freeman also made the motion Thursday afternoon to bill the district for the runoff.