Derek Wohlust had concerns when he turned in his ballot.
The ballot he received at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday in downtown Gainesville’s Precinct 27 was missing the Gainesville referendums.
Upon first glance, his ballot was marked with the right precinct but was missing a “G” in the title showing that it was within the Gainesville’s city limits, causing referendums to be missing, Wohlust said. Wohlust immediately notified one of the precinct’s clerks to correct his ballot and those of the 15 other voters at the precinct.
The missing referendums included one about Gainesville Regional Utilities that would let voters decide if an independent five-member board would oversee GRU instead of the city commission. The second one addresses the city of Gainesville charter amendment requiring elections for mayors and commissioners every other year for even-numbered years starting in 2022.
Wohlust was able to recast his vote within ten minutes after the issue was addressed. But he said the matter was frustrating and caused skepticism, even though it was most likely a fluke.
“It kind of feels like you’re being cheated,” the UF Performing Arts program assistant said. “Even indirectly.”
Alachua County Supervisor of Elections was aware of the issue and encouraged voters who believe they received a faulty ballot to contact the office immediately, said spokesperson TJ Pyche.
There is no estimate on how many people received the incorrect ballot, but the SOE office was contacted by three voters Tuesday morning, Pyche said. The issue is assumed to only have affected a small number of the first voters of the day at Precinct 27, at the Thelma Boltin Activity Center Center at 516 NE Second Ave., he said.
“We’re aware of the situation, and we’ve contacted the precinct and gone to the precinct to ensure that every voter in the city of Gainesville is receiving a Gainesville ballot,” Pyche said.
Contact Dana Cassidy at dcassidy@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @danacassidy_
Nicholas Moore-Lefauve, a 20-year-old information systems and operations management major, puts on his "I Voted" sticker during the first day of early voting at the J. Wayne Reitz Union Monday morning. This is the third time Moore-Lefauve has voted in his life.
