Commission learns ballot missing race in precinct

Public meeting set to discuss problem

The St. Francis County Election Commission on Thursday decided to hold a public meeting to discuss and address issues with some ballot types.

The meeting will be held Monday, Feb. 26, in the SFC Clerk's Office, beginning at 2 p.m.

Election workers and commissioners met Thursday morning to discuss an issue with ballots that were missing the District 63 State Representative race. The problem was discovered during early voting, which began Tuesday.

Commissioner Fredrick Freeman told the group that he received calls regarding the issue and wanted to know how the map was laid out for the precinct ballot styles.

"I received a call regarding voters in the Shady Oaks Apartment Complex along Cook Street who did not have the state representative race on their ballots," said Freeman. "My question is where is the dividing line? I was assuming that Cook Street was the dividing line, but it is not. All of Cook Street should be coded precinct part 63."

"I am going to take it that in the system that they are not coded that way," said commission chair Patti Long. "The thing is, what can we do to fix it? We have two different issues to address. One in Ward 3 and one in Ward 2. It is the same issue in both places, but we need to fix both of these precinct part issues."

Brandi McCoy, SFC County Clerk, said that three of the five inperson voters who were affected would need to either be brought back to the courthouse to vote in that race or have ballots taken to them.

"My suggestion is maybe we get a paper ballot done up with just that race on it and get it to those people to vote," said McCoy. "Three of the five affected voters were brought up here so they needed a ride. If we could send

Brodie Johnson • Times-Herald St. Francis County Election Commission Coordinator Patti Long, left, looks over the map of precincts for St. Francis County with Vincent Williams as commissioner Frederick Freeman looks on. Commissioners met today to discuss some problems with ballots and precincts that have come to light since early voting began Tuesday. A public meeting has been called for 2 p.m., Monday, in the county clerk’s office at the courthouse, to discuss the problems.