Redrawn council ward lines in East Point have led to a few voters’ ballots being wasted.
“East Point was redistricted, so some people who are in the affected areas are getting the ballot for their old ward,” said Carrie Ziegler, candidate for a Ward B council seat. “And then that vote is no longer counted and they cannot redo their vote.”
The problem is known to have affected 11 early in-person votes, said Nadine Williams, Fulton County’s director of Registration & Elections. Fulton is managing the municipal election in East Point, for which early voting began Oct. 16.
“They can’t take those votes back,” Williams said. Once cast, those ballots must stand.
Three early absentee voters who had the same problem, however, will have new ballots mailed to them, Williams said.
The problem is twofold, she said. The county elections office received a list of voters’ names and addresses from the city of East Point after redistricting, Williams said.
“Some of that information wasn’t correct where voters were assigned,” she said.
Also, the latest voter information wasn’t transferred to all the touchscreen tablets used at polling locations, Williams said.
Ziegler said she was alerted to the problem by a voter on Oct. 20. She said over several days she called and emailed East Point City Clerk Keshia McCullough, the Georgia Voter Protection Hotline and Fulton County to report the problem.
Ziegler provided emails from McCullough noting problems with several ballots. In one case a Ward B voter was given a Ward A ballot, but even after telling a poll worker that the assignment was wrong, the voter was told they had to vote in Ward A.
Ziegler said she knows of a few cases of inaccurate ballots in the two other wards, but she’s not sure how widespread it is.
Early voting turnout in East Point has been low and is expected to stay that way: perhaps 100 people have cast ballots so far, Williams said Oct. 27. The city has a population of about 38,000.
East Point is divided into four wards, each with two council members. Four council seats, one in each ward, are up for election this year. Ziegler is seeking a four-year term in one Ward B seat along with incumbent Josette Bailey and two other candidates.
“Just a couple votes can make a difference,” Ziegler said.
Most of the potential voters affected haven’t cast ballots yet, Williams said.
The county contacted the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and was told to take “corrective measures,” she said. That included sending each voting precinct in East Point a list of the city’s registered voters with their addresses and correct voting wards.
The city has been asked to double-check which wards voters are assigned to, Williams said.
Any voters identified as being initially placed in the wrong ward will get a card in the mail showing their correct voting precinct, she said. Those cards were scheduled to be mailed out Oct. 30.
After the election the county will check whether ward assignment errors could have affected the outcome of any races, Williams said. But if the problem was big enough to potentially change the results, it would take a directive from the Secretary of State to do anything about it, she said.
Williams said voters are advised to check their voting assignments on the county election website, and also with the Secretary of State’s office. She didn’t know of similar issues in any of the other city elections Fulton County is managing this fall.
