County
Ada Elections Office Busy Fielding Calls–Voting SNAFU In Pct. 50
March 13, 2012 
BULLETIN– 10:08 p.m. MERIDIAN VOTERS CAST 47 BOISE BALLOTS IN PRECINCT 50
Ada Election Central has issued this statement:
“A pad of the Independent School District of Boise City Supplemental Levy ballots was inadvertently placed with those of the Meridian School District Supplemental Levy resulting in 47 ballots being issued to Meridian Voters. This occurred at Precinct 50 (Seventh Adventist Church, 1115 N. Cloverdale, Boise), which votes patrons located in both Meridian and Boise school districts.
After the mistake was discovered, the ballot box with the improperly cast ballots was secured and isolated. A new ballot box was then used for the subsequently voted ballots. When the polls closed, the two ballot boxes were reconciled with the signatures in the poll book separately. The ballots were then transported to the Election Center in two respective transfer cases. This matter was also brought to the attention of the Idaho Secretary of State’s office and representatives of the Boise and Meridian School Districts.
Ballots from precinct 50 will be tabulated after all other ballots have been counted. Election workers will count Precinct 50 ballots in two separate groups. First, the Precinct 50 ballots that were not impacted will be counted. The Boise School District ballots impacted will be isolated and counted after that. These totals will then be combined. It is uncertain what effect this may have on the results of the elections. In the event of an election contest, a judge will be able to determine the effect of the isolated ballots involved on the outcome of the elections.”
4p.m. Report–
Ada County’s election office had seven people staffing the phones to direct voters to the proper polling place for today’s school levy election and they were reportedly “swamped with calls.”
As of 3:45 p.m. it was reported the election was running smoothly for the Boise and Meridian levy races. Boise seeks $70 million over five years and Meridian wants $28 million over two years.
Chief election officer Chris Rich told the GUARDIAN he expected a turnout of less than 15% of registered voters, but they had printed enough ballots for a 35% turnout. Since there is only one question in each school district, he predicted an early tally–barring a mechanical failure.
Polls are open until 8 p.m. and generally speaking voters are being directed to the same polling place where they voted in the last election.
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