By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Winners of the Aug. 6 Primary Election have moved on to the Nov. 5 General Election. In Barton County, two candidates have announced write-in campaigns for the general election. During Tuesday's Barton County Commission meeting, Clerk Bev Schmeidler pushed for a ban of stickers or labels on ballots.
"It's the practice of the clerk's office that a valid write-in vote must be handwritten and cast in its appropriate place on the ballot," she said. "The use of stickers and/or labels on the ballots for write-in voting purposes may cause a scanning equipment jam."
Election officials are not supposed to see a voter's choices and therefore cannot ensure that any stickers or labels are applied properly to avoid jamming machines. Jams could result in a manual count with higher costs and delay election results. Commissioner Donna Zimmerman, the longtime clerk before Schmeidler, said the county first adopted a similar policy in 2002, and put it on file with the secretary of state's office in 2004.
"I think the resolution just puts a little more teeth into it and gives us a chance to advertise that it does cause a problem with our tabulation systems," she said of Tuesday's decision to approve the resolution.
Kansas is an intent state, so names of write-in candidates do not have to be spelled correctly as long as election officials can determine the intent of the voter. Kate Wary has announced her write-in candidacy for 20th Judicial District Judge and Glennda French has announced her write-in candidacy for Barton County Register of Deeds.