Showing posts with label Absentee votes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Absentee votes. Show all posts

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Changes Made In Pocomoke Election Laws


POCOMOKE CITY -- After municipal elections in 2009 led to an investigation by the State's Attorney's Office, the Pocomoke mayor and City Council set out to fill gaps in and make changes to their election laws. With a second city election under the new rules slated for this April, a review of the new election code shows some recommended changes were put in writing, while other reforms rely on city workers remembering new instructions passed down in talks and training.


Resolution 432, passed before the 2010 elections took place, changed who maintains the list of registered voters, handing over that responsibility to the Worcester County Board of Elections. The only other change made in writing allows voters to download absentee ballot applications online.

Town Manager Russell Blake said other changes suggested by the state's attorney report have been adopted in practice, even if they are not specifically called for in the new code.

"As I recall, the state's attorney report was a recommendation, and all recommendations basically have been followed in writing or in practice," Blake said. The changes not committed to code, he said, are still known to the city workers who run the elections.

Distinguishing marks

After candidate Stephanie Burke alleged her opponents manipulated the absentee voting process to win in 2009, then-State's Attorney Joel Todd conducted an investigation and issued a report. No criminal charges were filed, and Todd found no evidence that candidates or city workers engaged in fraud.

Still, the report said the city did not maintain an accurate list of absentee voters and noted that the way city workers marked each absentee ballot with a number allowed his investigators to determine which absentee voters cast which ballots, violating the principle of the secret ballot.

"Clearly, the ballot number enables a party to identify not only who the voter was, but how the voter voted," Todd wrote. "If a voter can be identified and interviewed for investigative purposes, it is possible that they could be identified and interviewed for any other legitimate or nefarious purpose.

Pocomoke's election code at the time said if there are any distinguishing marks on a ballot, then that ballot can be thrown out; thus, the report noted, the town's practice of numbering the ballots conflicted with its own code.

"If the town employees and volunteers working for the Board of Elections supervisors need additional training, and it seems apparent that they do, then that training must be provided," Todd's report read.

Resolution 432, the new election code, also states any distinguishing marks can discredit a ballot. The updated resolution does not specifically instruct election workers to write ballot numbers on outer envelopes and to not write numbers on the ballots themselves -- the change in practice Todd urged.

"The recommendation about not numbering ballots was incidental," Blake said in an interview. In the 2010 election, he said, Pocomoke conducted the election the way the report suggested: Ballot numbers were placed on the envelopes, not the ballots.

Carol Justice, the city clerk, said she was not aware individual ballots should not be marked with numbers, as had happened in 2009. She said she had not received formal election law training after 2009. Mark Tilghman, the attorney who began representing Pocomoke City in 2008, declined to be interviewed.

Jim Peck, director of research and information management for the Maryland Municipal League, said the sanctity of the ballot box is important in all elections.

"In general, there are broad efforts made to ensure when you vote it's between you and the voting booth," Peck said. The practice of numbering each ballot, he said, is "relatively unusual."

www.delmavanow.com

Friday, November 19, 2010

Oglesby To Begin Job At State's Attorney In Early January

by: Christine Cullen
(Nov. 19, 2010) The race to become the next state’s attorney for Worcester County came to an end last Friday, when incumbent Joel Todd conceded defeat to his challenger, Beau Oglesby, in the close contest.

Todd, who has been the state’s attorney since January 1995 and was a deputy prosecutor since 1985, bowed out of the race after the second round of absentee ballots were tallied Nov. 12. Oglesby held a 90- vote lead over the incumbent, which proved to be insur- mountable with only a handful of ballots left to be counted next week.

“It has been my honor and pleasure to serve the citizens and visitors of Worcester County as a prosecutor since July 1, 1985. Justice, and only justice, has been my pursuit throughout that time. I have done the very best that I know how to do,” Todd wrote in a statement conceding victory to his opponent.

Todd ended the second absentee vote count with 10,4675 votes to Oglesby’s 10,555. The final tally of 35 absentee ballots that were held over, plus ballots sent in by members of the military, will take place Nov. 22, but there will not be enough ballots left for Todd to overtake Oglesby’s lead.

If all 50 military ballots that were sent out are returned, the total number of voted to be counted on Nov. 22 would be 85, which is fewer than what Todd would need to win. As of Monday, the county Board of Elections had received 14 military ballots.

This was the second time Todd and Oglesby ran head-to-head for the office. Oglesby, a deputy state’s attorney in Caroline County, also challenged Todd in 2006. That election was even closer than the 2010 race: Todd retained the office by just 14 votes.

“We’re very happy with the outcome. We know our work is going to be cut out for us. We’re looking forward to proving to the voters who voted for me that their trust was well placed, and we look forward to earning the trust of those in the county that weren’t quite ready to vote for me,” Oglesby said Monday.

Oglesby will take the helm of the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office in early January. Until then, he will be on double-duty: continuing to prosecute cases in Caroline County and getting familiar with the major cases under way in Worcester County to ensure he is ready to take over prosecution.

“We’re already engaged in getting up to speed on all of the cases. I’ve already met with members of [the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation] regarding some of the homicide cases, and I will meet with them on all pending major cases,” he said.

“I intend to make the way as smooth for him as I can,” Todd said in the statement. “I pledge to the voters that during the remaining time in my term of office I will do everything I can to prepare him for the cases and issues awaiting him on the first Monday of January 2011.”

In his 25 years working for and running the state’s attorney’s office, Todd said he feels he has made a positive impact on crime in the county. When Oglesby takes over in January, Todd will return to life as a private citizen and he is looking forward to the privacy that will bring.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served. Now, I’m looking forward to not having to live my life under a microscope any more,” he said Monday.

www.oceancitytoday.net