Judge orders ballots secured in Lexington council race, but which ones will be counted?
.png "The candidates for Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council District 4 seat are (from left to right): J. “Brack” Marquette, Brenda Monarrez and Barry Saturday.")
A Fayette Circuit judge ordered that ballots cast in the Lexington 4th Council District race during the recent primary election be secured in preparation for a recount.
During the Friday court hearing, Fayette Circuit Judge Thomas Travis set a June 10 hearing to determine when the recount should occur and which ballots will be counted.
On May 17, due to an error with new paper ballots, more than 30 people voted in the wrong council district and an additional 30-plus people voted in the 4th Council District who were not supposed to.
The snafu was discovered four hours after voting started and corrected, according to Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins Jr.
The unofficial results show the three candidates in the non-partisan race were separated by less than 50 votes.
Brenda Monarrez received 1,121 votes, Brack Marquette 908 votes and Barry Saturday 865 votes.
The top two vote getters move on to the general election in the fall. The 4th Council District includes an area south of New Circle Road between Nicholaville and Tates Creek roads.
The ballot error only affects the results of the 4th District race.
Anna Whites, a lawyer for Marquette, argued during Friday’s hearing the 70 votes in question should not be counted in a recount.
“We don’t want to extend (the recount) to the 70 votes,” Whites said.
Edward Cooley, who represents Monarrez, echoed Whites comments and said he does not believe the 70 miscast ballots should be counted.
James Yoder, a lawyer for Blevins, said after the hearing the clerks’ office has not taken a stance on which ballots should be counted. Yoder told Travis Friday the clerk’s office does not have to finalize ballots for the November general election until late August or early September. There is time to sort out the top two vote getters.
Saturday was not present and has not hired an attorney, according to the court record.
Travis said he wanted to push the next court hearing to June 10 to ensure all affected parties had time to respond to the lawsuit.
