By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
One Barton County race literally came down to a coin toss. The Board County Board of Commissioners canvassed last Tuesday's General Election results before Tuesday morning's regular meeting. In the race for Liberty Township Treasurer, write-ins Brad Kershner and TR Esfeld each received three votes. Election Officer Bev Schmeidler and Commission Shawn Hutchinson sorted out the call and Commission Chair Barb Esfeld provided a shiny quarter to decide the race.
More than 10,500 Barton County votes were cast in this year's election. Most of those results were posted to the county's webpage as unofficial results last Tuesday evening around 9:30 p.m. Schmeidler said this morning's canvass included the final ballots to be counted.
"When the commissioners come and meet as the County Board of Canvassers, they open up all the provisional ballots and go through those to determine which ones will count and which ones won't," she said. "They're given recommendations but it's ultimately their decision."
Provisional ballots are given to voters in instances where they forgot a valid photo ID, when they moved within the county but did not re-register, if they changed their name, or if they showed up to the wrong polling location. Election staff typically points voters to the correct polling location, but in rare instances where the voter cannot get to the correct location on time, a provisional ballot may be completed. Votes cast in incorrect city council wards or commission districts were not counted but valid races on the ballot, such as the Presidential race, were counted.
Ahead of elections, voters can see their ballot at VoterView. After elections, voters can see past elections in which they have voted. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab announced last week that this year's General Election will not be listed until counties certify their results. As only a name and date of birth is required to access the information, only participation information is listed, not which candidates were selected in any given election.