PHOENIX (AZ Family) — A voting mistake could create confusion in a Phoenix school board race.

A federal judge has ruled that election officials are not allowed to declare any winners in the race for two open seats on Phoenix Union High School District Board of Trustees.

Maricopa County election officials confirmed a ballot error was made, telling voters in the Phoenix Union district to choose no more than two candidates in the race when they should have said no more than one.

Aden Ramirez he is one of four candidates running for the two vacant seats.

He said the mistake was caught weeks ago after early voting took place.

“We know it was accidental. It wasn’t intentional at all,” Ramirez said. “But now, it’s how can we reduce the harm that could come to the electorate and the voters.”

Typically, voters in most races can vote for however many seats are open in the election.

But not in the Phoenix Union High School District, which had a consent decree issued in 1990 as part of a process to ensure that minority applicants were not discriminated against.

The decree requires voters to choose a candidate for two open seats.

lawyer Logan Eliawith The Rose Law Groupexplained that a federal judge has been asked to step in and address the voting error, but it’s not that simple.

The judge decided he would wait until all ballots are counted in that race to decide whether to declare two winners or hold a special election in March.

“I think what Judge (Murray) Snow is saying is let’s wait and see what the results of this election are and whether or not those results affect any of the concerns under the Consent Decree or the Voting Rights Act that are at issue in the litigation, ” said Elia. “Because if they don’t, maybe we don’t need to hold a special election.”

At least three of the four candidates have expressed concern about the special election, saying voter turnout next week in the presidential election will be much different than the number of voters who show up in the spring special election.

“We want to preserve the integrity of the November election,” Ramirez said. “We don’t want voters to feel like their votes don’t count in November. We want to make sure they count, and for me that means accepting those results in November.”

Current board member Aaron Marquez, who is running for re-election, released this statement:

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