One vote separates Gilstrap and Barnes for second and third place for UG Commissioner, 1st District at large
by Mary Rupert
Nathan Barnes, a candidate for Unified Government commissioner at large, 1st District, today said he would ask for a recount following a canvass of votes today that left him one vote shy of advancing to the general election.
Today at the canvass, 43 provisional ballots were counted, while 24 provisional ballots were not counted, according to Election Commissioner Bruce Newby.
The outcome of the preliminary primary election results was not changed, but the vote totals grew much closer. Instead of 10 votes separating Barnes from second-place candidate Mark Gilstrap, there is now one vote difference.
In the new certified final totals, Melissa Bynum remained in first place with 1,129 votes; Gilstrap had 1,105 votes; and Barnes had 1,104 votes. Only the top two move on to the general election. Twenty-four votes separate Bynum and Gilstrap. The general election is April 7.
Barnes, who was a UG commissioner from the 1st District for 18 years, said he had questions about under what circumstances the election office would call voters to come in to sign their provisional ballots.
Newby said the election office attempted to call people who forgot to sign the envelopes on their advance ballots or who did not provide their photo identification. Under the law, he said, these votes do not count unless they are signed and the voters have photo identification. He said the election office attempted to call all of the provisional voters for which they had telephone numbers.
Newby said some provisional voters came in and signed their ballots or showed their identification before today, while others chose not to come in. Some of them who did not come in were in support of the candidates who won, he added. Some did not reply, he said. For some of them, the office did not have phone numbers.
Newby said his office is not required to call these provisional voters under the law, but it was just a courtesy that they were called.
The voters had until this morning, before the canvass started, to come in and sign their ballots or show their identification, he said. Once the votes are certified, it is too late to come in to sign the ballots, according to officials. Newby said they had the opportunity to come in between the time the election ended and the time of the canvass today, and those who sent in their ballots early by mail had even more time to come in.
Barnes said today that he intends to file a request for a recount. He has until 5 p.m. Tuesday to file his written request with the election commissioner. He also will have to provide a bond that would pay for the cost of the recount, according to the election commissioner.
After the recount, the Board of Canvassers would reconvene to rule on the recount, Newby said. The Board of Canvassers is generally made up of UG commissioners or the persons they have delegated to be on the board. The Board of Canvassers meeting today was held at the Wyandotte County Election Office at 850 State Ave.
Also at today’s Board of Canvassers meeting, another candidate, Thomas H. Gordon, who ran for Board of Public Utilities, at large position 3, said he intends to file a challenge to this election. That challenge might be in district court, however, Gordon was referring to an “objections board” in the statutes.
Gordon said he plans to challenge the election under Kansas statute Chapter 25, Article 14, Section 25-1436, which relates to error or fraud or any other cause. “At this point in time, I don’t see how this could be a valid election,” Gordon said during today’s meeting.
Newby replied the procedure would be to ask for a recount or take it to a court of law.
Today’s canvass in the BPU contest showed Chris McCord in first place with 2,034 votes and Norman D. Scott in second place with 1,899 votes. Gordon received 1,243 votes, according to today’s final certified total.
The UG Commission, 1st District at large, seat has gone unfilled for about two years when the UG Commission could not reach six votes on any one candidate. Barnes and Bynum were two of the candidates for the appointment then, and Gilstrap was a candidate for appointment then but dropped out of consideration early in the process.
According to election office information, the 24 provisional votes that were not counted included 21 advance ballots in which the voter affidavit was not signed; one ballot where the voter failed to provide identification before the canvass; one ballot where the voter did not provide voter registration application for a change of address, and one ballot where the voter cast a ballot on the touch screen and claimed they did not. In the last case, the ballot count was advanced by one and the provisional ballot was the second vote.
