New primary causes glitches in Basin ballots

Two instances of errors cause concern among voters

The new primary system, with its multiple ballots, is raising questions and creating confusion in certain areas of the county.

Grant County Auditor Bill Varney said that the new primary, which requires four ballots to be mailed to voters, makes things complicated in some county precincts.

"There are a lot of precincts that have splits," he said, referring to the areas that do not follow a precinct boundary and might have two districts, such as fire districts, in one precinct.

The procedure in these cases, Varney said, is to print four ballots for each of those splits. This led to the confusion in the Marlin area of the county.

"When we had the ballots printed up, some of them were not right and we did not catch it," he said, adding that once the problem was figured out, 69 voters received new ballots.

When the original ballots come in, Varney said, they will be set aside and the new ones will be the ones that count.

"We try to do everything perfectly, but if we make a mistake and are notified in time, we will be able to correct it," he said.

To his knowledge, Varney said, that was the only precinct with that kind of error.

"That does not mean there could not be an error somewhere else," he said. "That is why it is important they notify us right away."

Another race where the new primary ballots has caused headaches is among Grant County Commissioners.

W. Ron Baker, running against incumbent LeRoy Allison for the District 2 Commissioner spot, said he and his opponent had been notified of a voter who received no ballot for District 2 races, although her spouse had received one.

Grant County Republicans' Chairman Tom Dent, whom Baker said told him of this situation, said the voter had received a republican ballot for a District 3 race, the only one of the three county districts that is not up for grabs this year.

"(The voter) was supposed to receive a ballot for district two," Dent said, adding concerned about these glitches.

"It's not fair to either candidate," he said. "They are running for office and they need all the votes they can get."