Issue at Nesmith polling site did not affect election outcomes, Moore assured

DOUBLE SPRINGS    - The Winston County Board of Registrars Office is working to correct an error from the March 5 primary election, when voters informed the office and polling officials at the Nesmith voting precinct  they had received the wrong ballot for a different school board district than which they should vote.
Nesmith Church is one of the county’s polling sites that is known as a split precinct, where voters cast their ballots for either district 4 or 5 of the Winston County Board of Education races, depending on which district they live in, noted Election Officer Sheila Moore.
District 4 of the Winston County Board of Education is the Addison district, in which voters marked their ballots for the race involving incumbent Randy Lee, Ted Alexander and Tonise Partridge.
Results of the race showed that Lee and Alexander will be in the Tuesday, April 16 run-off election, because neither candidate had the 50-percent plus one vote.
District 5 of the Winston BOE is the Arley district, where voters cast their ballots in the race with incumbent Lamar Frith being defeated by newcomer Kristen McCay.
During the primary election, voters brought to the attention of both polling workers at the Nesmith Church polling sit and the Board of Registrars office that they were not voting in the correct BOE race, or the race that matched the precinct where they lived, Moore explained.
The voters, who went to Nesmith to vote in the Arley or district  5 school board district, were given a ballot to vote in the Addison BOE district 4 race, based on the precinct part and street file that were assigned to those voters back in 2011, election officials stated.
“It had been brought to the attention of the board of registrars that the address street files for school board districts were incorrect at the Nesmith voting location,” Moore explained.
The board of registrars office is currently working to correct the error so voters can vote the correct BOE district lines, which overlap at the Nesmith polling site, officials further stated.
The voters involved in the error of the address street files will need to vote in the Arley or district  5 school board district, Moore stated.
These voters will receive a letter of explanation, as well as a new voter registration card  prior to the April 16, runoff, when they will cast their ballots for the run-off in the county commission chairman race.
“Since the county board of registrars office had been made aware of this school board district line error, the Alabama Secretary of State’s office informed them they would have to correct this error prior to the runoff election,” Moore pointed out.
Anyone who questioned their ballot was allowed to vote a provisional ballot for it to be determined by the board of registrars office whether the voters cast their ballot in the correct district or not, according to Moore.
Only two persons voted a provisional ballot in connection with this situation at the Nesmith polling site, according to Moore.
Only nine provisional ballots were cast countywide during the March 5, primary election, Moore stated.
“As far as the situation that had occurred, this will not affect any outcome or change the election results in any way,” she emphasized.
Among other business concerning the March 5, primary, Moore explained that rainy weather on election day dampened the ballots causing them to not feed correctly into the voting machines.
“But they got them to work,” Moore said.  
Also, several ballots were deemed unusable, because they did not remove easily from their perforation, according to Moore.
Issues were also reported with some electronic polling pads shutting down and restarting, according to Moore.
“But it did not affect anyone’s voting or signing in,” Moore stated. “They just had to work with them a little bit more.”
Moore polling pad company that provided the pads for the county, which advised election officials that the summary report matched the machine count, so everything worked out, she said.