CHAFFEE ELECTION STANDS DESPITE IRREGULARITY

CHAFFEE -- It looks like Janet Sullivan will remain as Chaffee's next new city council member.

Despite some voters being given wrong ballots Tuesday in the city's only council election, Scott County Clerk Bob Kielhofner said Wednesday it appears there would be no change from Sullivan's victory over incumbent Ed Gauthier of Ward 2.

"We don't look for a re-election or any vote recount," Kielhofner said. "It looks like it cleared itself up."

Vote totals showed Sullivan defeating Gauthier 118 to 104 in Gauthier's bid for a third two-year term. But those totals could be off somewhat because of a mixup in which the election judges gave 10 Ward 1 voters Ward 2 ballots. Kielhofner called the mixup "human error."

Ward 1 had no council race taking place. The incumbent, Bill Cannon, ran unopposed. The only other race Tuesday was the mayor's contest, won by incumbent Mayor Ron Moyers.

The election judges discovered their mistake about 7:30 a.m. after opening up for voting at 6, said Kielhofner. It was determined that within that time 10 Ward 1 voters, 23 Ward 2 voters, and five rural residents were given ballots, he said. The rural residents, however, did not receive city ballots.

There is no way to tell whether the 10 Ward 1 residents voted in the Ward 2 race or skipped the race altogether, he said.

Even though, Kielhofner said, if the "toughest assumption" is made in which Sullivan got all 10 extra votes, there would still be no change in the overall election result. Canceling out the votes would leave Sullivan with 108 votes and Gauthier still with 104, he said.

Chaffee City Attorney David Summers said it appears that the irregularity for lack of a better word was diminished in its effect "provided the vote count was proper and provided there were not additional irregularities."

"I'm not saying that there is something (else)," he said. "I'm not discounting the possibility that some new or additional information may develop."

Summers said the initial determination rests with Kielhofner on whether there was a substantial irregularity that would cause him to ask Circuit Judge Anthony J. Heckemeyer for a remedy, such as a recount. Then, the next step could be taken by either Gauthier or Sullivan.

"Either candidate could file for a recount and to contest the election, that would be their option," said Summers.

The third and final step rests with the Chaffee City Council in its certification of the election results. But Summers said the council generally follows the vote totals as provided by the election authorities because it really has no independent basis to know if an irregularity existed.

Gauthier was unavailable Wednesday for comment. Sullivan was reached at Columbia Sportswear at Chaffee, where she works, and she said she would return the call to the reporter later Wednesday. She failed to do so.