Election Board Counts Provisional Ballots For General Election
November 18, 2022 at 10:54 p.m.
By Jackie [email protected]
A provisional ballot is given to voters when there is a question about the voter's qualification to vote in the precinct, which is not resolved by a fail-safe procedure and the voter believes he/she is qualified to vote in the precinct or the voter has been challenged as not qualified to vote in his/her precinct, according to the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office website.
Seventy-seven ballots were counted and 27 were accepted.
Of the provisional ballots that were rejected, one of the reasons that occurred most often was the voter was not registered to vote, of if they were, they were in a different county. There were voters that lived in Kosciusko County but were registered in other counties, such as St. Joe, Whitley or Allen, and didn’t update their voter registration.
Kosciusko County Clerk of the Superior and Circuit Courts Ann Torpy said the provisional voters who were determined to not be registered voters would be sent voter registration applications.
Torpy did go over some issues that were seen where voters were given provisional ballots due to the issues.
One was a voter who checked in and gave poll workers his driver’s license. However, all the voter wanted was a sample ballot. Torpy said poll workers then said the voter was sent to get a sample ballot. She said she cannot speak for the poll workers, but assumes another voter came in behind him and the first voter’s information was used and allowed the second voter to vote by mistake.
The person who checked in and the person who signed were not the same person, she said.
The first voter came in later that day to vote with his wife. Torpy said she was very surprised he didn’t get upset. Torpy said she talked with poll workers to make sure they are confirming every voter that comes through.
Torpy said she believes she’ll be able to clear out the inaccurate vote from the voter’s record from the system. She also said it’s a very frustrating circumstance for the voter.
Another voter had to take a provisional ballot because he was incorrectly listed as deceased and a certificate of error was created. Torpy said the voter should have been able to vote on the machine, but because of the error, he couldn’t. The voter’s investment banker received a letter requesting the banker file an estate for the voter. The voter didn’t know if it was for his wife who did pass away, since their social security numbers are similar.
Torpy said in the clerk’s office records, there were two people with the same first and last name and date of birth with only the middle initial being different. Torpy said the voter did bring in everything he could think of to prove he was in fact alive.
After the accepted ballots were counted, that brought the voter turnout to 42.89% for the Nov. 8 election, with a total of 23,308 votes counted. Of that amount, 18,867 were listed of in-person votes, 1,170 votes for paper absentee and 3,271 walk-in absentee votes.
A provisional ballot is given to voters when there is a question about the voter's qualification to vote in the precinct, which is not resolved by a fail-safe procedure and the voter believes he/she is qualified to vote in the precinct or the voter has been challenged as not qualified to vote in his/her precinct, according to the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office website.
Seventy-seven ballots were counted and 27 were accepted.
Of the provisional ballots that were rejected, one of the reasons that occurred most often was the voter was not registered to vote, of if they were, they were in a different county. There were voters that lived in Kosciusko County but were registered in other counties, such as St. Joe, Whitley or Allen, and didn’t update their voter registration.
Kosciusko County Clerk of the Superior and Circuit Courts Ann Torpy said the provisional voters who were determined to not be registered voters would be sent voter registration applications.
Torpy did go over some issues that were seen where voters were given provisional ballots due to the issues.
One was a voter who checked in and gave poll workers his driver’s license. However, all the voter wanted was a sample ballot. Torpy said poll workers then said the voter was sent to get a sample ballot. She said she cannot speak for the poll workers, but assumes another voter came in behind him and the first voter’s information was used and allowed the second voter to vote by mistake.
The person who checked in and the person who signed were not the same person, she said.
The first voter came in later that day to vote with his wife. Torpy said she was very surprised he didn’t get upset. Torpy said she talked with poll workers to make sure they are confirming every voter that comes through.
Torpy said she believes she’ll be able to clear out the inaccurate vote from the voter’s record from the system. She also said it’s a very frustrating circumstance for the voter.
Another voter had to take a provisional ballot because he was incorrectly listed as deceased and a certificate of error was created. Torpy said the voter should have been able to vote on the machine, but because of the error, he couldn’t. The voter’s investment banker received a letter requesting the banker file an estate for the voter. The voter didn’t know if it was for his wife who did pass away, since their social security numbers are similar.
Torpy said in the clerk’s office records, there were two people with the same first and last name and date of birth with only the middle initial being different. Torpy said the voter did bring in everything he could think of to prove he was in fact alive.
After the accepted ballots were counted, that brought the voter turnout to 42.89% for the Nov. 8 election, with a total of 23,308 votes counted. Of that amount, 18,867 were listed of in-person votes, 1,170 votes for paper absentee and 3,271 walk-in absentee votes.
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