At least half dozen Burns voters don’t get chance to vote in municipal election

Early voting doesn’t end until Thursday but already a half dozen voters have complained they were given incomplete ballots. Election officials said mistakes by poll workers left off the municipal races in Burns for at least six early voters. The Burns residents voted in the state and federal general election, but their ballots did not include the races for mayor and board of commissioners in Burns. Administrator of Elections Linda Medley said the affected voters hit the “cast your vote” button before realizing the mistake. State election officials have said there is no recourse for those voters because once a ballot is cast, it cannot be erased. And allowing those voters to cast an absentee or paper ballot for the races that were left off would amount to allowing them to vote twice, the officials said. Medley has said that poll workers are dealing with more than two dozen potential ballots for each resident who votes early and sometimes mistakes will be made. She recommends that voters be aware of what races should be on their ballots and if they believe there has been a mistake, address it with a poll worker before hitting the “cast your vote” button. There is a “review” button that allows the voter to look over his choices before officially casting the ballot. Voters should carefully read all instructions while in the voting booth and be aware that some ballots are multiple pages with the four municipal elections being held in Dickson County. Early voting continues in Charlotte 8 am-4 pm today, in Dickson and Charlotte Wednesday and concludes Thursday. Through Monday, 6,693 ballots have been cast in Dickson County.