UNION, Ky. — Union resident Kamryn Watt went to vote on Election Day without incident…or so it seemed.

After casting her vote, her father mentioned that Union had a ballot question related to the city’s medical cannabis, and she recalled that the issue did not appear on the ballot she used.c

“My mom also said, ‘I didn’t get it either,'” Watt said. “So that’s when we thought, ‘What’s going on? Why can’t we vote for this?’”

Watt isn’t the only one who noticed something might be up. Now, a week after the election, the Boone County Circuit Court has granted Union City Commissioner and candidate Robert Bine the ability to challenge recent election results amid reports from residents who claim they received ballots wrong on election day.

“I’m a Union resident and I didn’t get to vote on the things I was supposed to vote for,” said Lina Shutts, another Union resident.

Court documents filed this week and last week indicate that both Bine and Boone County Clerk Justin Crigler received reports of incorrect ballot distribution from residents of two different Boone County voting precincts: Wards 1 and 4 of the Union.

Local races affected include the Union City Commission races — which Bine lost, according to unofficial Election Day results — and the city’s medical cannabis ballot question.

WCPO 9

WCPO 9

Clerk’s Office filed a recount requeston November 8. There are differing accounts of the timing of the day’s events, but the clerk’s petition outlines the situation.

Union Ward 1 votes at the Union Firehouse, while Ward 4 votes at Ryle High School. Despite their names, there are voters in the two wards who live in the city, as well as voters who don’t, instead living in unincorporated Boone County. Voters are thus allocated different ballot papers depending on where they live, even if they vote in the same constituency.

Election workers received the following number of ballots, according to the clerk’s petition:

• 500 ballots printed for Union 1 voters living in the city, which contained spaces to vote on commissioner races and the issue of cannabis
• 1,750 ballots printed for non-resident Union 1 voters that did not contain spaces for commissioner races and the issue of cannabis
• 300 ballots printed for Union 4 voters living in the city, which contained spaces to vote on commissioner races and the issue of cannabis
• 1,350 ballots for non-resident Union 4 voters that did not contain spaces for commissioner races and the issue of cannabis

The clerk’s office, according to the petition, received a call from election workers around 11:30 a.m. on Election Day informing the office they were out of ballots.
“While addressing the shortage, the petitioner (clerk) became concerned that ballots may have been incorrectly distributed by election officers to voters at the precincts,” the petition states.

In response, the clerk shut down the voting machines at the precinct. Between 12:15 and 12:30, the clerk provided new scanners to the premises.

The clerk recorded the following results on the machines that were closed: 238 Union Township voters and 759 out-of-town voters requested ballots in Precinct 1. 176 in-town voters and 517 out-of-town voters requested ballots in ward 4. .

“As the polls closed, the petitioner (clerk) received inquiries from affected voters who indicated that they did not receive the correct ballots,” the petition states.

“It’s a double whammy that you had people who didn’t live in the Union vote a Union ballot and then people who lived in the Union were given a ballot that didn’t have the Union Commission or city commission race and the problem cannabis. on him,” said Bine’s attorney, Steve Megerle.

Megerle believes the problems actually started before the 11:30 a.m. phone calls to the clerks’ office. Bine’s motion to intervene (which is essentially asking the court for permission to challenge the election) names two Union residents, Jeff Bowman and Sarah Mayleben, who claim they received incorrect ballots during voting.

“Jeff Bowman, a Union citizen, went to the polls at approximately 10 a.m. and was told by election workers that the current ballots were ‘incomplete’ and did not have the city commission race and the cannabis referendum.” Bine’s court documents are read.

Mayleben, on the other hand, claims he was told by poll workers that he should go ahead and vote incorrectly in the absence of a correct vote.

“(Mayleben) showed up to vote for the union at approximately 9:30 a.m. at Union Precinct 1,” court documents state. “The election workers told all the voters in the line that the precinct ran out of ballots and if you live in unincorporated Boone County, you can vote for a city. Ms. Mayleben heard a poll worker call the county board of elections to report the problems. Mrs. Mayleben then witnessed election workers providing “unincorporated county ballots” to Union City voters to cast. Ms. Mayleben declined the invitation to cast her ballot, unlike many other voters, she had the opportunity to return later to actually vote for Union City Commissioners.”

Mayleben contacted Bine following the experience. Mayleben and Bowman could not be reached directly for comment.

Watt also called the clerk’s office to report what happened, then took to social media to see if anyone else had misplaced ballots. Shutt told LINK nky that she noticed other people were talking about it in her neighborhood’s Facebook group.

The clerk is constrained by law in what he can do to find out if there was a problem with the ballots. He requested a recount before the court, admitting that a recount alone would not provide insight into whether and how many wrong ballots were cast. As such, Judge Richard Brueggemann, to whom the case had been assigned, rejected the requestarguing that it would be “useless”.

“It is indisputable that the eligible voters from the Union city limits who vote in the Union Section no. 1 and Union Sector no. 4 were unintentionally disappointed,” writes Brueggemann.

“This is an unfortunate situation that is being handled cooperatively and effectively,” said Boone County Prosecutor Jordan Turner. “At this time, the Boone County Clerk is awaiting further direction from the Court to address the situation.”

Although the clerk can do no more at this time, voters and candidates can challenge the election through the courts. The court granted Bine’s request for intervention on Monday. He has thirty days to file a formal appeal with the court. If such a challenge is successful, it could eventually lead to a special election.

None of the parties involved believe fraud or foul play was involved. Crigler described the situation to LINK nky as the result of “human error.” Megerle agreed.

“We’re not alleging there was any fraud,” Megerle said. “We do not claim that there were criminal acts. You know, these elections are run by humans and their human error. And unfortunately, that was pretty significant human error on the part of the poll workers, either because of a lack of training or a lack of competence at these polling stations.”

Shutts is also skeptical that anything untoward is going on.

“I think it’s so hard to get people to volunteer to do things that maybe they’re not properly trained,” Shutts said. “I don’t know. I don’t know if they just didn’t get enough training or they were just happy to be here and do their job, you know, and they just overlooked it.”

Currently, the extent of the problem is unclear.

“It is unknown how many Union voters were erroneously told to vote, missing out on the Union city commission race,” Bine’s complaint states. “At least 20 percent of the City of Union precincts had serious irregularities, providing a bona fide basis for an election contest beyond the recount requested by the county clerk. It is also not known at this time how many voters were disenfranchised by showing up to the polls and returned and did not return due to uncertainty that they could actually vote for Union City-related races on the ballot for the general elections.

This story originally appeared on the website of our content partner LINK nky.

Every NKY city has approved medical cannabis operations in this election. What’s next?