Several PATA members have e-mailed me and asked me to further explain my comments about how the ?‘walk-in?’ voters could have an impact on the 15-vote margin Gail Oakes currently possesses over John Maurer in the race for the third seat on our Pickerington school board.
The first question dealt with voter registration requirements. These ?‘walk-in?’ voters are all registered voters in our county already. They are called provisional voters by the Board of Elections. For the most part, these voters have lived in the school district and have built a bigger house or moved on to a bigger lot within the area. These voters, needless to say, are very positive about our school district and many of them have been active in PTOs, boosters, etc. They either vote at their new voting location or return to their old polling location and vote with a new address.
The delay in counting these votes is the fact that the Board of Elections must certify that these voters only voted in one location. The Board of Elections will announce the results on November 20, 2001.
Last year, out of 16,000 voters, there were about 100 provisional voters, of which the school bond issue/levy picked up an additional 38 votes. This year, there were probably (the Board of Elections won?’t verify yet) about 60 provisional voters.
We have already been able to identify five of these voters, all casting votes for John Maurer and none casting a vote for Gail Oakes. We believe Gail Oakes margin is down to 10 votes with about 55 more votes to be counted.
Thank you PATA members for your questions.
