Corrected Greene County ballots sent out
Corrected mail-in and absentee ballots have been mailed to voters in Greene County after several mistakes were found on ballots that were sent out a last week.
Meanwhile, with a little over two weeks left before the general election, Jason Mihal is no longer on the job overseeing elections for the county.
Mihal was hired as the county’s elections director in January, and was the fourth the county has had since August 2020. He announced in September he would be leaving the post to take a job elsewhere in the country, though he had reportedly agreed to stay on the job through the Nov. 7 election.
Mike Belding, a Greene County commissioner and chairman of the county elections board, said Thursday that it was “a planned departure,” and Mihal’s replacement is set to start in the job on Monday.
On Wednesday, the Greene County Elections Board approved a plan that would cancel all the ballots that had been mailed and send corrected ballots. A note on pink paper will be included in the envelope of the corrected ballot explaining what happened and stating that the new ballot is the one that should be returned.
Belding said “just a handful” of the incorrect ballots had been returned to the county, and the wording on the note that will be included with the corrected ballots had been drafted by Robert Grimm, Greene County’s solicitor.
One mistake listed two races for magisterial district judge. The ballots should have listed just one contest or none. Other mistakes included the order in which some school board candidates were listed on the ballot.
The incorrect ballots will be voided in the electronic scanning system and will not be counted if returned.
Last week, Mihal said about 1,600 ballots had been sent out.
The election for magisterial district judge in District 13-3-01, encompassing the western part of the county, and District 13-3-02, taking in the central part of Greene, were both listed on the incorrect mail-in ballot. The ballots should have instead contained only the election in the voter’s district, or, in the eastern part of the county, no election at all, since District Judge Lee Watson is not up for reelection this year in District 13-3-03.
In District 13-3-01, District Judge David Balint is running for reelection without opposition, though a write-in option is available. Tom Ankrom is also running unopposed in District 13-3-02. If elected, Ankrom will be replacing District Judge Glenn Bates, who earlier this year announced his retirement. District 13-3-01 includes Waynesburg and other communities. District 13-3-02 includes Clarksville and Jefferson, along with Franklin, Jefferson and Morgan townships.