One Lexington city council race remains in question following Tuesday’s Primary Election. Paper ballots were accidentally swapped at two precincts. Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins said 71 voters got the wrong ballot. Blevins says he doesn’t want to disparage election officers who deal with the stress of election day.
“I want to assure people that your vote still counts. There are statutes on the books for this exact situation when something happens, an act of God, a mistake, human error, anything. There are statutes that describe how we go about solving it. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do in this situation,” said Blevins.
The leading vote-getter in the fourth district council race was Brenda Monnarez. But results show Brack Marquette and Barry Saturday only 43 votes apart. Blevins said the matter is being taken to court. The county clerk noted some technologies within the scanning machines may prove beneficial.
“There are some technologies available on our new machines that may prove helpful here, but we’ve not had a chance to look into those yet. It may just be a decision simply of whether or not to put Mr. Saturday on the ballot in November. Might just come down to a simple decision,” said Blevins.
Blevins said all three candidates will be enjoined in the lawsuit, so they can have their say in court as well. Brenda Monnarez received just over 39% of the votes cast with Brack Marquette earning just over 31% and 29.7% for Barry Saturday. Blevins expects the question to move to court in the next few weeks. He said there is still time to resolve the issue before November ballots are drawn up in August or September.
