CLERK SAYS POLL WORKERS ERRED, CHAFFEE WARD 2 RUNOFF PROBABLE

CHAFFEE - Ward 2 Councilman Ed Gauthier likely will get another chance at re-election because election judges knowingly allowed voters from another ward to cast ballots in the April 2 runoff for the seat.

Janet Sullivan, 111 North Third, won the election over Gauthier, the incumbent, by 118 votes to 104, initial results showed. Gauthier was seeking his third, two-year term.

Scott County Clerk Bob Kielhofner said he has learned through further investigation that judges at the Chaffee City Hall polling place had handed out Ward 2 ballots to an estimated 18 Ward 1 voters.

Kielhofner said Friday that it now looks like another election will be held in early May. The day after the election Kielhofner had said the judges had given Ward 2 ballots to 10 Ward 1 voters.

He attributed the mixup at that time to "human error" and said the judges had discovered their mistake at about 7:30 a.m., after opening up at 6. Nonetheless, Kielhofner said, even if Sullivan was assumed to have gotten all 10 votes, the mixup wouldn't change the overall election result.

Kielhofner said he expects the county prosecutor's office to petition the circuit court for a new election and for Circuit Judge Anthony J. Heckemeyer, who was out of town Friday, to nullify the results as soon as he returns early this week. He said he has asked the judge for another election.

As of Friday morning, the prosecutor's office had not yet filed the petition, said Kielhofner.

The county clerk said he has now learned the judges were still handing out the wrong ballots until about 10 a.m. after opening up three hours earlier.

Kielhofner said the judges knew they were handing out the wrong ballots but he doesn't know why they did. Kielhofner said he couldn't "read their minds."

"Originally they called here (the Scott County clerk's office) and said they couldn't find the package of Ward 1 ballots. That was the original kickoff on the thing."

Some Ward 1 voters, he said, said the judges had given them Ward 2 ballots while remarking that it wasn't the correct ballot and that they should bypass the Ward 2 race and vote only for mayor.

Kielhofner said he asked Heckemeyer for a new election because the first election just had "too many errors in it."

Reached Friday, Gauthier said he felt a second election would be the proper route to take and that he awaited a decision.

"There's no way to know how many invalid ballots we have up there and who voted for what." He said he was anxious to get the issue fairly decided one way or the other.

Gauthier still holds the seat until at least Monday night, when the election results will be certified and the winners will be sworn in before the Chaffee City Council meeting.

But it is doubtful, he said, that the results from the Ward 2 race will be certified. City ordinance, he said he believes, reads that he holds the position until someone is duly elected in his place. City Attorney David Summers will have to explain the ordinance at Monday night's meeting, he said.

Comment was unavailable Friday from Sullivan.