The last votes from the May primary were counted Friday and, unlike last year’s general election, made no difference for any of the candidates involved.
In all, the Porter County Election Board oversaw the counting of 57 provisional ballots Friday. Another 28 ballots were tossed out for an assortment of reasons.
After November’s municipal general elections, throwing provisional ballots into the mix resulted in ties in town council races in Chesterton and Beverly Shores that had to be resolved by those respective boards.
None of the races in the presidential primary were that close, said Kathy Kozuszek, Democrat director in the county’s Voter Registration Office, though candidates like to know how they did in each precinct as they prepare for the general election.
“We haven’t been sitting here 10 days biting our nails to see if it will make a difference,” she said.
Ballots can be marked provisional on Election Day because a voter doesn’t have proper identification at the polls, or because they didn’t provide enough information when they registered and need more documentation, Kozuszek said.
Either way, under state statute, they have until noon on the date 10 days after the election to bring in the proper documentation for their vote to count, she said.
The discarded ballots were from voters who didn’t meet that deadline, or couldn’t be read by the voting machines, she said.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
