With Friday’s deadline passed, the field of candidates for Maysville City Commission is likely set with nine write-in candidates and three listed the ballot.
The exception would be if someone filed with the state rather than at the Mason County Clerk’s office, Clerk Stephanie Schumacher said Friday.
The nine write-in candidates include David Doyle, Robbie Detro, Ann Brammer, Barry Shrout, Kathryn Gilligan, Andrew Wood, Robert Hendrickson, Charles L. Kielman and Kirby Bennett. They join the three candidates listed on the ballot — Victor McKay, Jeff Brammer and Kelly Ashley.
The late Jerry Schumacher is also listed but votes for him will not be tallied.
Schumacher said she hopes to make the process as simple as possible for voters and has provided explanations for how write-in voting works.
Mason County has two types of voting machines, the county clerk said. They are E-Scan, which uses paper ballots and E-Slate, which is computer operated. To cast a write-in ballot on the E-Scan, voters will be required to both fill in the write-in box and to write in the candidate’s name. On the E-Slate machine, voters will be required to turn the wheel to write-in and a keyboard will then appear to type in the candidate’s name or names.
Only last names are required and minor misspellings will be ignored and the vote counted as long as voter intend can be determined, Schumacher said. Voters can request a list of write-in candidates names at the polls but there will be no need to request a write-in ballot since all ballots will contain that option, she said.
Poll workers will be available to assist voters or to answer questions, she said, and sample ballots are available at the clerk’s office for voters who want to have a look before walking into the voting booth. Voters are also welcome to call her office with questions, she said.
A list of write-in candidates for city commission and other offices is also available on-line at www.masoncountyclerkky.com.
Voters can vote for up to four candidates for city commission in any combination of ballot and write-ins, officials said.
With so many write-in candidates, the County Board of Elections agreed to delay counting write-in votes until Wednesday, Nov. 7.
After ballots have been tallied for all other races, the board will quit for the evening and reconvene Wednesday morning to count the write-ins, Schumacher said.
Members of the board include Democrat Kirk Clarke, Republican Elizabeth Andrews, Tim Nolder who is serving as sheriff and Stephanie Schumacher.
Absentee voting is currently underway on machines at the clerk’s office and will be available through Nov. 5. Those eligible for paper ballots have until Tuesday to submit an application, Schumacher said.
