Before the April general election, the Douglas County clerk should redouble her efforts to ensure a clear and accurate vote count.
Last November's fiasco in Florida has made us a little sensitive about election snafus. Maybe that's why it's disconcerting to witness even the minor confusion over who would be the sixth candidate to advance from Tuesday's primary election in the Lawrence City Commission race.
When the vote-counting ended Tuesday night Jennifer Chaffee was in sixth place with 570 votes. Adam Mansfield was in seventh place and out of the race with 560 votes. But provisional ballots still were in question so officials knew the vote order might change.
Provisional ballots are those cast by people whose registration is in question. Unlike many of the disputed ballots in Florida, the provisional ballots are clearly marked but were cast at polling places where the voter was not properly registered. If the voter is found later to be eligible, the vote is counted.
On Wednesday, that vote order did change, but not because of the provisional ballots. It was discovered that, in the counting process, election officials had inadvertently counted advanced votes in the election twice. They were counted once, then added on again at the end of the counting process. After that situation was corrected, Mansfield led Chaffee by one vote 522 to 521.
On Friday, the numbers changed again, but the order of finish did not. In their official canvas of the vote, Douglas County commissioners determined the fate of the provisional ballots. Adding the eligible votes to the totals arrived at a final count of Mansfield, 536; Chaffee, 527. Case closed.
Both Chaffee and Mansfield were well behind the rest of the field in Tuesday's primary, almost 1,000 votes behind Scott Bailey who finished fifth and more than 2,800 votes behind Sue Hack, the first-place winner. It would be unusual although certainly possible for Mansfield to break into the top three candidates who will take places on the commission after the April general election.
But it is important that county election officials seriously look at their vote-counting procedure and make the changes needed to avoid a repeat of this confusing result. This is the third election in which the county has used its new vote-scanning equipment. Two of those times, advanced ballots have been counted twice. This time, that error made a difference in the candidate placings.
In general, the county clerk and her staff do a good job of accommodating voters and churning out election results. But, before April's general election, they should do whatever training or practice is needed to prevent a repeat of Tuesday's embarrassing glitch.
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