Scores of Brown County ballots rejected

(BROWN COUNTY DEMOCRAT) — The Brown County Election Board met Friday to determine whether to count 75 provisional ballots cast during the General Election on Nov. 5, as well several dozen ballots cast during early voting.

The board, comprised of Republican President Mark Williams, County Clerk Pearletta Banks, also a Republican, and Democrat Rick Kelley accepted 21 provisional ballots, meaning 54 were rejected because of issues including incomplete affidavits, inactive voter registration, voting at the wrong precinct or registration in other counties.

The rejected ballots were in addition to around 100 ballots from early voting, Williams estimated, that the board said could not be counted because they lacked at least one of the two required signatures from poll workers.

While discussing the first few ballots, the election board faced technical difficulties with the shared microphone that didn’t pick up their voices. When two attendees pointed this out and asked them to speak up, Williams said, “Why don’t you come sit right up front, if you’re having trouble hearing then just come up here and sit down, I’m not going to shout for you.”

Many of the provisional ballots that were rejected were cast by people who were registered in Jackson, Johnson, Bartholomew, Marion and Hancock counties, but currently living in Brown County.

“I think the takeaway here is to remind folks that when they move to change their voter registration address and check with the clerk’s office,” Williams said.

Nineteen people attempted to vote but were unregistered, and all of their ballots were rejected. “They are not in the system at all and according to the statewide voter registration search, they have never registered to vote in their life,” Banks said.

Kelley pointed out that most of the provisional ballots rejected because of unregistered voting statuses were from people who lived in the Cordry-Sweetwater lakes area.

The county has been deciding whether to stick with the precinct system currently in place or adopt voting centers that would enable people to vote at any of the locations regardless of where they live in the county. Eight ballots were rejected because they were cast at the wrong precinct on Election Day. At least dozens of voters also went to the wrong precinct on Election Day and were told they would have to go elsewhere to vote.

Eighteen of the provisional ballots were cast due to Election Day voters attending their precinct during a time in which the poll books were experiencing problems. “The voter was at the polls, chose not to wait until the poll books came up and voted a provisional ballot,” Williams said.

For voters who were on a time constraint, such as those visiting during lunch or before picking up their children from school, waiting an undisclosed amount of time at the polls was not possible. “I don’t blame them,” County Clerk Pearletta Banks said.

This article appeared in the Nov. 19, 2024, Brown County Democrat.