LARNED — Meeting Monday morning, the Pawnee County Board of Commissioners canvassed last week’s general election. Present at the meeting were Commissioners Bob Rein Jr., Phillip Hammeke and Deborah Lewis, County Attorney Doug McNett and Deputy Clerk Rebecca Dietrich. County Clerk/Election Officer Ruth Searight was not in attendance at Monday’s meeting.

Commissioners reviewed 36 provisional ballots. Of those, 19 were approved for counting and 17 were rejected.  McNett said the 19 provisional ballots approved for counting generally fell within two categories, (1) local individuals that were registered, but had changed voting districts (wards); or (2) local individuals who were previously registered but had been purged from the voter registration book due to not voting in past elections. There was also one individual that had changed names but provided proof of the name change.

According to McNett, of the 17 ballots rejected, nine were not registered, one registered too late, six were registered out of county with no proof of when they had moved to Pawnee County and one was convicted of a felony since the last presidential election. That ballot was marked provisional due to voting in a different ward than registered. None of the reviewed ballots impacted local races.

Additionally, the Commission approved for counting seven advanced ballots that were not received by mail until November 4. Pursuant to K.S.A. 25-1132(b), advanced ballots must be postmarked on or before the date of the election and received by the county election officer within three days of the election unless additional time is permitted by the Secretary of State.

Two local races had ties – the Pawnee Township Treasurer race and the Valley Center Township Trustee race. The Board announced the races will be determined by coin flip at 9:30 a.m. on November 16 during the Board’s next regular meeting.