Cunniff-Franson obvious error order: pull 35 random ballots from three precincts

In Douglas County , District Court Judge David Battey has come down on the side of the Franson petition, while acknowledging that the law allows limited options under the circumstances.

While this is not "an ideal solution," the order requires that 35 ballots will be randomly removed from the 3 precincts where errors occurred.

As Bluestem has noted in earlier posts, since Cunniff received more votes in these precincts than Franson, odds favor that her margin of one vote will increase. However, whichever way the luck of the draw shifts the vote, an automatic recount will still take place.

Here's a rundown of the errors and precincts where they took place from an earlier post:

Alexandria Ward 1- Precinct 1 where 26 voters who signed into Precinct 1 were given ballots for Precinct 2, thereby giving them an incorrect opportunity to vote in the Franson-Cunniff race.

Similarly, in Ward 5 (Alexandria City Hall), it looks like 6 voters in Precinct 1 were given the Precinct 2 ballot, allowing them to incorrectly vote in the Franson-Cunniff race. In W1P2, Cunniff is reported to have a 753-603-1 lead; in W5P2, it's 570-392-1.

Alexandria's Ward 3, which voted at New Life Christian Church. There, three more ballots were counted than voters signed in. The Cunniff-Franson-Write In counts there are 754-535-2.

Presumably, the ballots will be pulled by precinct according to the errors within each of them.

Here's the judge's order:

Douglas County Court ruling in Franson-Cunniff obvious errors case;

Comments

[Mike Worcester]

I guess to me the obvious question is: has this happened before in other state elections and if so, was this the remedy used in those cases also?

[Amy Wilde]

Same thing happened last week, Mike, in the tie vote between Gabrielson & Fenrich in Meeker County. Extra ballot in the box because a judge apparently inadvertently gave a voter two ballots stuck together. Before the recount, one ballot was reportedly pulled at random & Gabrielson lost the precinct & thus the election by one vote. I've never heard of this "solution" to election judge error before; it does seem odd but is apparently legal.

Yes, I'd linked to the Litchfield Independent Review article in a earlier post. It does seem odd, but it is the law.