By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
A candidate who fell five votes short of winning the Piedmont Ward III city council race has contested the unofficial election results, said Canadian County Election Board Secretary Wanda Armold.
Candidate Megan Dawson filed a petition alleging irregularity in Piedmont during the Tuesday, June 30 city election.
Unofficial results show Ryan Redus had 108 votes, or 41.54% to Dawson’s 104 votes, or 40%.
Incumbent Al Gleichmann garnered 36 votes, 13%, followed by Austin Rohrs, 12 votes, 4.62%..
According to paperwork filed at the Canadian County Election Board, Dawson states people in Piedmont at some polls did not get the ballot to vote on Piedmont City Council races.
Other absentee voters did not get Piedmont ballots to cast, the petition states.
The petition alleges it is impossible to accurately determine which candidate won because not enough ballots were at polling places.
Dawson said she did not want to comment on the issue before the court makes a decision.
“I am not comfortable commenting right now,” Dawson said.
In a handwritten portion of the petition filed at the election board, Dawson wrote:
“To the best of my knowledge, multiple people were not given their ballots to vote in the Piedmont City Council election. This occurred at multiple polling places, not just one in particular. Citizens were told a variety of reasons including that they were not registered in that ward, it was a Congressional election only. Also, citizens witnessed other voters submitting the ballots for SQ (State Question 802 and Congress, then exiting the polling place, then re-entering and being handed a ballot for the city council. Another instance a person had filed for an absentee ballot and said they had not had time to mail in and were given ballots to vote.”
Armold said a hearing on the claim is set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, July 9 before District Judge Paul Hesse.
The complaint will be investigated and a report presented to the district attorney’s office for review, Armold said.
Meanwhile, unofficial results in Piedmont Ward V show Melissa Ashford, incument, had 137 votes, or 53.94% over Mandy Swatek, 117 votes, 46.06%.
The winners are expected to be sworn in at the next city council meeting Monday, July 27.
