A Trenton woman has filed a lawsuit in Grundy County Circuit Court contesting two elections held Tuesday, April 6.
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A Trenton woman has filed a lawsuit in Grundy County Circuit Court contesting two elections held Tuesday, April 6.
Carolyn Garcia, who was a candidate for the Grundy County Nursing Home District Board of Directors and for the fourth ward Trenton City Council position, filed the suit on Thursday in Division I of the Grundy County Circuit Court. The Grundy County Nursing Home, City of Trenton and her opponents in the elections are listed as defendants in the cases.
In the case against the nursing home district, Mrs. Garcia also lists Larry Griffin and Melvin Tuttle, who were incumbents and were re-elected April 6, as co-defendants in the case. She alleges that she was the first candidate to file for one of the two seats, but that her name was listed last on the ballot. Missouri law requires candidates to be listed in the order in which they file for the office.
According to the Grundy County Clerk?s Office, candidates for the nursing home board file for office at the nursing home and the list of candidates is then certified by that board to be placed on the ballot. According to the administrator?s office at Sunnyview Nursing Home, their records indicate that Griffin and Tuttle filed on Dec. 16, while Mrs. Garcia filed on Jan. 16.
Certified results from the April 6 election showed 1,425 votes for Griffin, 1,494 votes for Tuttle and 1,112 votes for Mrs. Garcia.
In her petition against the City of Trenton, Mrs. Garcia lists the incumbent, Troy Smith, as a co-defendant. Smith was re-elected with 366 votes compared to 167 cast for Mrs. Garcia. Mrs. Garcia alleges that her name did not appear on all ballots distributed in the fourth ward and that Smith?s name was printed on some ballots distributed in the third ward. She alleges that the ballots themselves were generally defective and that the ballots were not properly counted.
Grundy County Clerk Kristi Urich said she is ?100 percent? sure that Smith?s name did not appear on any of the third ward ballots and said the confusion in the fourth ward likely stems from the fact that five separate ballots were used in that ward, due to school district and city limit boundaries.
Mrs. Urich said that in a municipal election, the entities holding the election, such as the city of Trenton, the nursing home district or a specific school district, certifies its own ballot. They then provide the clerk?s office with a certified ballot which is forwarded to the company that prints the ballots in Atchison, KS. No changes are made to the ballots sent to the company and they are not even re-typed, she said. The company then prepares sample ballots which are reviewed by Mrs. Urich to ensure their accuracy before they are printed. Separate ballots are made for each voting entity. In the fourth ward, there were five ballots available: within the city limits and in the Pleasant View R-6 School District; outside the city limits and in the Pleasant View R-6 District; outside the city limits in the Laredo R-7 School District; inside the city limits in the Trenton R-9 School District; and outside the city limits in the Trenton R-9 School District. Only the voters within the city limits were eligible to vote for the fourth ward city council position. With those combinations, Mrs. Urich said, only two of the five ballots would have included the candidates for the Trenton City Council.
Mrs. Urich said that on election day she received a call from one of the eight registered voters who were at that time living in the portion of the ward that includes the city of Trenton and the Pleasant View R-6 School District. The caller said she had received a ballot that did not include the city council candidates and asked if she had received the wrong ballot. Mrs. Urich said she told the caller that she should have received a ballot with the city council candidates, however, since she did not question the judges at the time she had cast the ballot, it was too late for the ballot to be taken by judges and marked ?spoiled?. If she had told the judges about the mistake when she voted, the voter could have received the correct ballot.
Mrs. Urich said that while she regrets the error, it was not intentional and she stands by her election judges.
?I stand 100 percent behind my election judges, especially in the fourth ward,? she said. ?They have so many ballots out there and they are very diligent in keeping the various ballots separate and being sure they get to the right people. They (the ballots) were probably sitting right next to each other and the wrong one got picked up. Accidents happen and mistakes happen and we regret that it happened.?
Mrs. Urich said that is the only call she has received concerning a person not getting the right ballot. She received no calls from anyone saying that Smith?s name was on a ballot in the third ward and due to the coding and other assurances that are in place, she does not believe it occurred.
?I am 100 percent sure that did not happen,? she said of the allegation in Mrs. Garcia?s petition.
Mrs. Urich also noted that she has given Mrs. Garcia ample opportunity to view both the voted and unvoted ballots to see if mistakes occurred on them. Mrs. Garcia has not yet visited the office to view the ballots. In fact, Mrs. Garcia had contacted Mrs. Urich on April 19 concerning her allegations that Smith?s name was on some third ward ballots and that her name had been left off fourth ward ballots. She was told then that the ballots are available for viewing by the public for 30 days after the election and was invited to come to the office and look for herself.
The case is assigned to Third Judicial Circuit Court Judge Andrew Krohn, who may or may not elect to hear evidence in the case. He could also appoint an election commissioner to look into the allegations made by Mrs. Garcia in the two petitions. No date has been set for Judge Krohn to consider the issue.