Saline County commissioners approve canvas of Salina mail-ballot election, rule on 76 provisional ballots

Saline County commissioners on March 2 voted to accept the county clerk's recommendations in the canvas for the City of Salina mail-ballot election held Feb. 24, approving 76 provisional ballots for counting and upholding the exclusion of 251 provisional ballots.

Jamie, speaking for election staff, opened the canvass and walked commissioners through categories of provisional ballots. "So, so this is the canvas for the city of Salinas, mail ballot election that was on February 24," Jamie said, and reviewed which provisional ballots were being recommended to count and which were not.

Jamie told the board 35 ballots were from voters who had moved within the county but remained in-district and were recommended to be counted. She said two were name-change cases where voters later updated registration and 24 were replacement ballots (lost, damaged, mismarked or otherwise reissued). "We had 11 that were signatures that do not match. The voter did come in prior to today to cure that," she said, and added four previously missing signatures were also cured. After that review, Jamie said 76 provisional ballots were recommended to be counted.

The commissioners moved and seconded a motion to accept the clerk's recommendations to count the ballots Jamie had identified; the motion passed on voice vote with all commissioners saying "aye."

Jamie then reviewed provisional ballots recommended not to be counted. She listed 39 ballots returned after the close of polls (noon on Feb. 24), 10 voters who had moved within the city but had not completed a new voter registration card, two who had moved outside the incorporated city limits, three who changed names but did not complete a new registration, and one who did not live in the district. In addition, Jamie said 63 ballots had signatures that did not match and whose voters did not cure before the meeting, 15 ballots where a voter signed another voter's envelope, 33 where voters signed each other's envelopes, and 85 missing signatures. Jamie noted staff had called and mailed letters to provisional voters to request cures before the canvass. She corrected one earlier count while speaking: "I got those backwards ... The 33 were where they signed each other's envelopes. The other 15 was that they signed the wrong declaration or wasn't the voter signature."

Commissioner Speaker 1 moved to approve the clerk's stated reasons for rejecting the 251 provisional ballots and Speaker 4 seconded; the motion passed on a voice vote with all commissioners voting in favor.

Jamie said a counting board upstairs was finishing the ballots recommended to be counted and that she planned to have the detailed results and materials for the commissioners to sign the next day. "I'll have the results to sign tomorrow," she said.

With no further business, the board took a motion to adjourn and ended the meeting.

What this means: the commission accepted the clerk's review of provisional ballots and set final signatures on the canvass worksheet to follow once the counting board completes its work.