Ballots Are Still Valid For Other Races, Issues in General Election

Registered voters within the Waterville city limits have received ballots with a printing  error. The Douglas County Elections Office discovered the Douglas County Fire District No. 1 Commissioner race between Samuel Tonseth and Adam Brown was inadvertently included on the ballot received by 832 voters within the city.

Douglas County Auditor Thad Duvall said the error is the result of an incorrect election boundary map.   The City of Waterville is not within the fire district boundary even though the fire station is located within the City of Waterville.  The City has a contract  with Fire District 1 for fire services but is not within the district boundary for voting purposes.

The printing error is only involving ballots sent to registered voters within the City of Waterville. “Given the limited time before Election Day, it isn’t feasible for us to issue new ballots to voters in the City of Waterville,” Duvall said in a Friday news release announcing the error.

Waterville area voters can still use the ballot they received for the election's other races.

Since the error only appears on ballots in precinct 205 City of Waterville ballots, Douglas County elections staff will not tally any votes in that Fire Commissioner's race on the ballots in question..

As of Friday, October 27, Duvall's office had received a return of approximately 8% of the ballots after the first week of voting. Voters are encouraged to return ballots either by mail or at one of the eight drop box locations across the County.

To be counted ballots must receive a postmark of November 7th or be deposited in a drop box by 8pm on Election Day.