News: Six ballots were blank

Take a look at your ballot. If it’s blank on one side, you’d better turn it in to the county Elections Office for a new ballot.

Six ballots — five on Shaw, one on San Juan — have been found with printing on only one side, Elections Supervisor Dan Gillespie said. Those voters received new ballots; Gillespie said he doesn’t know if more goofed ballots are out there.

When the press was printing the other side of the ballots, it grabbed two ballots at once, according to Sally Andrews of Ballots & Business Forms in Tacoma. Consequently, only one side — the one showing two state initiatives and the county levy — was printed. The other side — the one showing local races and levy requests — was blank.

“This may be all of them,” Gillespie said of the six bad ballots. However, the real test comes on Election Day — Gillespie’s office mailed out 5,788 ballots, half of all ballots that will be cast Nov. 4. Shaw Island’s ballot is a mail-only ballot. Any incompletely printed ballots will be rejected by the voting machine.

“It happens,” said Gillespie, a former printer, about the printing goof. “But it’s not as critical in other applications.”

Gillespie said election workers will check ballots carefully before they are handed out or mailed. Bottom line: If one side of your ballot is blank, call the Elections Office, 378-3357.

Andrews is a printing broker, which means she hires a printer and oversees the ballot’s production. She said the blank ballots should have been discovered after they were off the press; customarily, workers “fan” the ballots to make sure they aren’t stuck together, then check for blanks before each ballot is numbered. The printing company she used has 75 employees.

Nov. 4 election

All told, 37 positions in the county are on the Nov. 4 ballot — from school boards and cemetery districts to town council and port commission.

Countywide, voters will decide whether to raise the county property tax to 97 cents per $1,000 of assessed property valuation. The money would be used to cover the cost of operations, capital and technology improvements.

On San Juan Island, voters will also decide whether to raise Island Rec’s property tax levy from 10 cents to 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. This money would be used to support existing and expanded programs, an additional employee, improvements to the Family Park at the fairgrounds, and an environmental impact study of the proposed Lafarge Park.

San Juan voters will also choose between Steven T. Dubail and Stephen P. Hudson, San Juan Island Cemetery District; Bob Jarman and Dave Moorhouse, San Juan Island Fire District Commission; Lenore L. Bayuk and Michelle M. Shober, San Juan Island Hospital District Commission; Sally W. Bryan and Heidi Lopez, San Juan Island School Board.

The following San Juan Island candidates are unopposed:

— Cape San Juan Water District, Position 2: Alan L. Froelich.

— Cattle Point Water District, Position 2: Eleanor D. McMillen.

— Friday Harbor Port Commission, Position 3: Gregory L. Hertel.

— Friday Harbor Town Council, Position 1: Debbie Emery.

— Friday Harbor Town Council, Position 2: Wally Gillette.

— Friday Harbor Town Council, Position 5: Carrie Brooks.

— Friday Harbor Town Treasurer: Wendy Fairweather Picinich.

— San Juan Hospital District 1, Position 5: Lyle L. Tarte.

— San Juan Island Park and Recreation, Position 1: Bill Cumming.

— San Juan Island Park and Recreation, Position 4: Denice Brown.

— San Juan Island School District, Position 3: Boyd C. Pratt.

— San Juan Island School District, Position 5: John MacDougall.

On Shaw Island, residents will vote for three school board members and a fire district commissioner.

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