BURKEonBOARD

(Sept. 9, 2008) – On election day, an unfortunate situation developed in Lakeville’s voting precinct 13.

Part of this precinct lies within the boundaries of ISD 192, part in the Lakeville school district. So election judges there had to make sure they identified which voters got which ballots.

It turns out that some of the judges didn’t understand that and in at least one case, and possibly several more, voters were given the wrong ballots. One man, Scott Hewitt, who lives in ISD 192, got a ballot with no ISD 192 school board candidates to vote for. He challenged the judges but they didn’t understand the complaint and told them to use the ballot he had been given.

So in at least this one case, a voter was disenfranchised.

But Scott didn’t leave the issue alone. He knew a serious mistake had been made and he called government office after government office until he found out that the Lakeville City Clerk was responsible this precinct. He called the clerk’s office and left a voicemail message explaining the problem.

To the city’s credit, they followed up quickly and the judges were properly instructed, but by that time 12 nine voters had cast ballots and there’s no way to know how many of them might been given the wrong ballots.

As I write this, it is still hours from the returns coming in. What we can hope is that the vote margin between the sixth and seventh highest vote getters in the school board primary is greater than 12 nine. Then it would be hard to argue that polling place error affected the outcome of who moves to the general election ballot.

But nothing will make up for the fact that Scott’s choices won’t be counted tonight. Especially since he was one of the only 15% of eligible voters bothering to vote in this primary election.

At least he took action quickly and he probably saved other voters from disenfranchisement. Thanks Scott.