Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The elections board will meet Tuesday to certify election results.
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Board of Elections will begin counting today 1,688 provisional ballots cast in the Nov. 7 general election.
People voted on provisional basis if they moved their residence before the primary election.
Meeting in special session Monday afternoon, the board rejected 481 provisional ballots for various reasons.
Kelly Pallante, board director, said it isn't known whether provisionals could change any close races, such as in Southington were voters rejected a 3.9-mill school levy by seven votes -- 952 to 645, according to unofficial results.
The election board will meet at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to certify the election.
The count will include 12 absentee ballots cast by voters who were out of the country and whose ballots were postmarked the day of the election or before it, Pallante explained.
The 1,688 includes 87 provisional ballots cast by voters who had moved but were told by poll workers they had to file provision ballots rather than casting regular ballots.
Pallante said the 87 provisionals will be treated as regular ballots.
Rejected ballots
The 481 rejected by the board included 94 because people weren't registered to vote but cast a ballot.
An additional 187 were rejected because they didn't include proper identification numbers, and 166 because people voted in the wrong location.
James Saker, an assistant county prosecutor and the board's legal adviser, said the 187 could have returned within 10 days of the election and provided proper ID numbers -- and then had their ballots counted.