Both campaigns deny sending out post-Election Day mailer to provisional voters

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

After spending more than a week in the lead in the race for the 111th House District, Republican Barb Wasinger will have to wait a few more days —  and hope that a recount goes her way — as she aims to unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Eber Phelps.

After nearly all the ballots were counted on election night, Wasinger led Phelps by just 40 votes, but there were still more than 200 advanced and provisional ballots left to count.

Following Thursday’s election canvass at the Ellis County Administrative Center, Wasinger held a 32-vote lead vote lead over Phelps, prompting him to call for a recount. The official vote total had Wasinger with 4,342 votes to 4,310 for Phelps. There were 15 write-in votes.

After the canvass board certified the vote Thursday, Wasinger said, “I’m glad to hear it’s certified and we’ll wait for the recount.”

The final determine in the race will come a full two weeks after Election Day.

“Probably the same way it’s felt since last Tuesday,” Wasinger said with laugh, describing how it feels to have to wait another five days to determine a winner. “It hasn’t changed much. It’s still just waiting for the official final results.”

In front of a large crowd of people Thursday, the canvass board — made up of County Commissioner Marcy McClelland, Sheriff Ed Harbin and Mike Morley — went through the process of opening the ballots, handing them off to the election board to be counted and eventually certifying the results.

The board began the process with the advanced ballots. According to Ellis County Clerk and Election Officer Donna Maskus, there were 62 advanced ballots submitted.

Eleven of the 62 were rejected for various reasons including being postmarked after election day, having no postmark or having a non-matching signature. One person chose not to vote. Fifty-one ballots were counted.

Hays attorney John Bird served as a representative for the Phelps campaign and raised issue with the ballots not counted because there was no postmark or that were postmarked after Election Day. He said state statute says the envelope must be postmarked or contain another marking.

Maskus said she worked with the local postmaster to make sure that the ballots received were postmarked. Two ballots were not counted because of a lack of postmark.

That would not be the only issue raised by Bird, who said he had asked several questions of Maskus in the days leading up to the election canvass.

Jonathan Ehrlich, a representative for the Kansas House Republican Campaign Committee, also asked questions of Maskus and the canvass board throughout the process.

While the advanced ballots were being tabulated by the election board, the canvass board went through the same process of opening provisional ballots and placing them in a ballot box to be transferred to the election board.

Maskus said in all there were 212 provisional ballots cast in Ellis County.

Of those, 66 were not counted. Forty-two were not counted because the voter was registered in another county, 23 were not registered at all and one was returned in the wrong envelope.

Bird said he wanted to know, of the people who filled out a provisional ballot, whose ballot would be counted.

“We know who all the provisionals were and there are many people in the audience who cast provisional ballots, and they’d like to know if their vote’s getting counted,” Bird said. “I was asking specifically about one, who’s a family member.”

He asked the canvass board to have Maskus tell people in the audience whether their vote was being counted or not.

One person in the audience said he received a document in the mail stating if he wanted his provisional ballot counted he could provide the necessary information at Thursday’s meeting.

The mailer in question did not come from the County Clerk’s office, although it lists the county office as the return address and Maskus’ name is listed.

It is unclear who is responsible for the mailer or how many voters received it. Ellis County Democratic Party Chairman Henry Schwaller and Republican Party Chair Dustin Roths both confirmed Thursday they were not responsible for the mailer.

Bird, as a representative of the Phelps campaign, acquired a list of voters who submitted provisional ballots from the County Clerk’s office but denied sending out the mailer — although he said he agreed with its message.

“I fully support it,” Bird said. “The fact of the matter is, is that’s why these people are here, is because they want to know if their vote’s being counted.”

Wasinger said Friday her campaign did not receive a list of voters who submitted provisional ballots.

Anyone who submitted a provisional ballot is given information on how to contact the clerk’s office and remedy the problem. They had to do so by 4 p.m. on the day of the canvass.

Maskus did talk with two people about their ballots at the meeting.

According to Maskus, 145 provisional ballots were counted.

After about two hours, all the votes were tallied and presented to the canvassing board and Wasinger had a 32-vote lead.

McClelland conferred with Morley and Harbin and they suggested that, because the margin was less than one-half of one percent that a recount be held.

Ehrlich said only a candidate can call for a recount. But Bird pointed out that state statue does allow for the board of canvassers to request a recount.

According to KSA 25-3107, if the majority of the board determines that “there are manifest errors appearing on the face of the poll books of any election board, which might make a difference in the result of any election.”

Bird argued there were errors in the process that should lead the board to hold off on certifying the results and to call for a recount.

Ehrlich said if the board doesn’t find “manifest error” then it should certify the results.

Bird also submitted a request to Maskus, on behalf of Phelps, to go forward with a full hand recount.

After more discussion between McClelland, Morley and Harbin, they elected to certify the results and allow the requested recount to go forward.

Maskus said this is the first recount in Ellis County in over 40 years.

The clerk’s office has five days to complete the recount.