Judge orders re-canvass in Lexington council race. Who will be on Nov. ballot still unclear
.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 a re-canvass of votes in a tight Lexington-Fayette Urban County 4th Council District race where a ballot snafu meant some voters cast ballots in the wrong district.
After a court hearing on Friday, Fayette Circuit Court Judge Thomas Travis ordered the re-canvass, which will check voting machine tallies and is not a hand recount of ballots, by June 24.
Travis has yet to decide whether the results of that re-canvass will determine the top two vote getters in the three person race or if he will allow all three candidates to move to the general election in November.
On May 17, due to an error with new paper ballots and possibly confusion over new Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council district lines, 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 council enacted new council district boundaries last year, creating changes in precincts in the 4th Council district.
The snafu was discovered four hours after voting started and was 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 received 908 votes. Barry Saturday received 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 Nicholasville and Tates Creek roads. The ballot error only affects the results of the 4th District race.
Blevins told the court Friday that it would not be possible for the clerk’s office to determine which votes should be counted and which votes should be tossed. The votes are designed to be anonymous, Blevins said.
Blevins suggested the court do a re-canvass to make sure the unofficial vote totals were accurate.
Saturday, who represented himself during Friday’s hearing, argued that due to the ballot mix-up, the only equitable remedy was to allow all three candidates to move forward to the general election in the fall.
“The easiest and least burdensome solution is to move all of us to the November general election,” Saturday said.
Anna Whites, a lawyer for Marquette, argued during Friday’s hearing that state law only allows voters to correct errors when casting votes while they are in the polling place.
“It’s unfortunate,” Whites said of the ballot mix-ups. “But the law is clear on this point.”
Edward Cooley, a lawyer for Monarrez, agreed. It’s not fair to his client to have to run against two candidates in the fall, which is more expensive than running against one candidates.
Saturday disagreed alleging council district races are typically not expensive.
Travis said after the results of the re-canvass are filed with the court he will decide whether the re-canvass totals will be used to determine the top two vote getters or if he will decide to allow all three candidates to run in the fall.
Marquette, 68, is a retired higher education department chair who has served as a government agency official and a government affairs executive.
Monarrez, 50, is a small business owner. Saturday, 42, is a stockbroker and financial advisor and a former teacher.
