Tuesday, 15 June 2010 05:59

Sutter Creek Measure N Could Have 120 More Ballots To Count

slide1-sutter_creek_measure_n_could_have_120_more_ballots_to_count.pngAmador County – Amador County Registrar of Voters Sheldon Johnson said Monday that as many as 120 ballots remain to be counted in Sutter Creek’s Measure N election, and the election office must still prepare to count those ballots. Work remains to prepare to do the final counting. Johnson led a group of 4 staff members and election officials in a hand-count of Sutter Creek’s “Measure N” Monday, which verified that the electronic ballot counters did their job perfectly. The votes counted so far were verified, and there were 2 corrections. One “over vote” was ruled to be a “yes” vote, and one “under vote” was deemed a “no” vote. The vote count still stood with the No votes ahead by 8 points in the Measure N race, which will decide whether Sutter Creek City Council’s actions to approve the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort will be left standing or dismissed. The election department’s Debbie Smith said Sutter Creek still had a total of 38 provisional ballots and 82 vote-by-mail ballots left to count, and they planned to start the verification on the mail ballots at 10 a.m. today (June 15th). Smith said the election department must first “log in” the 82 vote-by-mail ballots, then they can process the provisional ballots. The vote-by-mail ballots are logged in by verifying each signature. She said: “I’m not sure people realize we have to verify each and every signature.” That means comparing them to signatures on file at the office. She said “it if does not look right, then I discuss it with Sheldon.” Johnson said for people to get a provisional ballot at the polls, “one thing they swear to is that they have not voted.” Smith said “nothing can be done until they get the absentee ballots keyed in.” After all those are processed, then they will update the vote count. She said 25 provisional ballots were used at one Sutter Creek precinct and 13 were used at the other. The election office will try to finish verifying ballots today and count them. The office fielded a lot of calls last Thursday about Measure N, which hindered work. They also had a furlough day off Friday. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.