Mix-up means referendum not on ballot

WESTLAKE (AP) -- It took more than three days for paperwork on a suburban Cleveland tax referendum to make it 16 miles by certified mail to the elections board, missing the deadline for the May ballot.
The Westlake school board voted Feb. 14 to put a tax increase on the May ballot, and the paperwork was sent to the Cuyahoga County elections board in Cleveland by certified mail.
But the paperwork arrived Friday, one day past the deadline to qualify for the May ballot.
The school board said it might appeal the deadline.
"It's disappointing," said Renee D'Ettorre Wargo, the school board's president. "There's been an error made, and we will be investigating."
David Van Allen, a spokesman with the U.S. Postal Service, said Tuesday that the letter apparently was misdirected, but it was unclear if the error was made by an employee or mechanical sorting machine.