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Island Voters Not Alone in Party-Line Confusion During Primary Confusion about how to vote resulted in 15 spoiled ballots and one potential voter walking out during the primary election on Mackinac Island Tuesday, August 8. A state requirement to vote for candidates in only one political party caused the confusion. Mackinac County Clerk Mary Kay Tamlyn said that the primary is a nomination election where a voter nominates a candidate to move forward to the general election in November. The reasoning behind the requirement to vote along party lines in a primary, she said, is that splitting a vote would allow voters from one party to vote for a weaker opposing candidate, giving their party's candidate a better chance of winning in the general election. Kelly Chesney, spokesperson for the Secretary of State, said voting along straight party lines in a primary has been a Michigan law since 1930. "The primary process lets both parties pull forward their strongest candidate," she said. Ballots were also spoiled in other county precincts, including six spoiled ballots in the City of St. Ignace, said Mrs. Tamlyn. The bad ballots were detected and kicked out of the automatic ballot counting machines. In those cases, voters were given another ballot and further instructions and were allowed to vote again. Before the new voting equipment was installed, bad ballots were not detected until they were counted after the polls closed, so voters never knew they misunderstood the procedure. Their ballots were simply thrown out and their votes were not counted. "The beauty of the new equipment is it gives those individuals who cross party lines another opportunity to vote," Ms. Chesney said. Mackinac Island election worker Jennifer Bloswick said that the voting confusion centered around the county commission race, which had two Democrat candidates and no Republican candidates. Some Republican voters found their ballots invalidated when they voted for one of the Democrats. City Clerk Karen Lennard said that the election went well, overall, with 117 ballots issued. With 644 registered voters, turnout was more than 18 percent. Mrs. Lennard said that the votes were tallied and the results transmitted to the county clerk's office 20 minutes after the polls closed. "That's a record," she said. Kathi Wightman, who chairs the electoral board on Mackinac Island, said, "Everything went perfectly." Other electoral board members are Jan Wightman and Kathy Andress.
The 15 spoiled ballots were not tossed out, explained Mrs. Wightman. The election process requires that they be placed in an envelope marked "spoiled ballots." The envelop then is placed in the ballot bag with all of the election ballots. The bag is sealed and locked, she said. Then that bag is placed in a ballot can, which also is sealed and locked and kept for two years. |
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