CLARIFICATION: 3:55 p.m. Thursday: According to Ellis County Clerk Donna Maskus, cellphones will be allowed at Thursday’s canvass. Maskus also clarified her comment that “on the provisional ballots, we find that most ballots are counted other than a few that are not registered to vote in Ellis County.”
The story has been edited to reflect Maskus’ clarifications.
By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
With the race for the Kansas House of Representative 111th District still too close to call, all eyes will be on the Ellis County election office and Clerk and Election Officer Donna Maskus on Thursday night as the vote tallies are finalized.
Just 40 votes separate incumbent Democratic State Rep. Eber Phelps and Republican challenger Barb Wasinger after the final votes were tallied on election night. Wasinger led Phelps 4,259 to 4,219 votes.
There are still approximately 200 provisional ballots and more than 30 advance ballots that still must be counted, a process Maskus said could take a significant amount of time Thursday.
The election canvass will be at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Ellis County Administrative Center in the commission chambers and a vault nearby.
During the canvass, the remaining provisional and advanced ballots are opened, counted and then added to the vote totals to determine the final tally, which is then approved by the canvassing board.
In Ellis County, the canvassing board is made up of the three county commissioners but, at Tuesday’s commission meeting, Wasinger and her campaign co-chair and fellow commissioner Dean Haselhorst both recused themselves from the process.
“While I appreciate everyone telling me what they thought I should do, I did it on my own, for the primary, and I’m very well-versed in making that decision on my own as well,” Wasinger said.
During the primary election in August, Wasinger recommended Mike Morley fill in for her on the canvassing board. Morley had to leave for another meeting before the process was over and the commission appointed County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes to finish the canvass.
Wasinger has again recommended that Morley take her place on the board, and Haselhorst suggested the Sheriff Ed Harbin fill in for him.
The only remaining commissioner on the board, Marcy McClelland, will nominate two people to fill in on the board. It does not have to be the two people recommended Tuesday.
According to Maskus, the evening will start with the canvassing board opening the advanced ballots and dropping those in a ballot box, which will then be taken to the machines that count the ballots.
Advanced ballots are requested and mailed to the voter ahead of the election. They are then either dropped off at any polling site or mailed back to the county Elections Office.
If they are returned through the mail, they must be postmarked the day of the election, Nov. 6, and received in the elections office by the end of the day Nov. 9.
Maskus said her office did receive some ballots postmarked Nov. 7 and they will not be counted because state statue requires them to be postmarked by election day.
She said some counties are having issues with some ballots not having been postmarked. Representatives with the U.S. Postal Service told Maskus not all mail that is dropped in a mail box will be postmarked.
But Maskus said she worked with the post office in Hays to guarantee that all ballots were stamped.
“Every ballot that came here to us they stamped when they received it,” said Maskus. “Not when it was processed but when they received it here before they put it in the box.”
If they do not have a postmark, state statute says they are not to be counted, according to Maskus.
On the outside of the advanced ballots, the voter must sign the envelope and Maskus said that signature must match the one on file when the voter registered. If it does not match, it cannot be counted, she said.
Maskus said if they determine a ballot cannot be counted, she will give the canvassing board the reason why under the Kansas statue.
Once they are opened, making sure to keep the anonymity of the voter intact, they will then hand the ballots off the election board workers who will run the ballots through the vote tabulating machine.
Because there were some precincts that had a greater than expected turnout, there are some ballots that were photocopies that are made of a different paper and must be hand counted. Maskus said those official ballots have a special stamp to guarantee they were handed out by certified election staff.
Once the ballot stock is ran through the machine, Maskus said the election board will then go back over the ballots.
Maskus said she has three election boards made up of three people each.
They will be responsible for counting and tabulating the write-ins. They will also look over ballots to ensure that the correct vote is counted, if there is a question as to the voter’s intent.
While the election board is counting and rechecking the results from the advanced ballots, the canvassing board will begin the process of opening provisional ballots to determine whether they will be counted, according to state statute.
A voter may receive a provisional ballot, which is a paper ballot, if there is a question about their voter status.
CLARIFIED, 3:55 p.m. Thursday: Maskus said most provisional ballots are counted other than a few that are not registered to vote in Ellis County. Those individuals are then given a voter registration card to fill out so they are registered in the next election, but that provisional ballot will not be counted.
Provisional ballots are also given to someone who comes to the polls without a valid ID, who has changed their name or address and not re-registered, or if they received an advanced ballot but the attempted to vote at the polls.
They canvassing board will then determine if those can be counted or not, according to Maskus.
“They’ll decide per Kansas statue which ones can be counted,” she said.
Anyone who receives a provisional ballot can contact the county clerk’s office or attend the canvass to determine if their vote was counted or not.
Once they determine what provisional ballots can be counted the canvassing board will go through the same process of opening the ballots and then transferring them to the election board, which will run them through the tabulation machines.
Once that process is completed, election officials will go through and count any write-in candidates and look over every ballot.
“Our ballots are always doubled-checked by another board,” said Maskus.
Once all of the ballots are counted and the write-in votes are recorded, all of the results will be tallied and presented to the canvassing board, which will then decide whether to accept the final results.
Maskus said the public is invited to attend and can watch the process.
She will also take questions from the public after the final results are presented.
Any candidate wanting a recount must call for one by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16. Maskus said her office would have five days to complete the recount, which includes the weekend.