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Hernando Today

Names In Wrong Order On Absentee Ballot

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By TONY MARRERO

Published: July 17, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - More than 430 absentee ballots have been mailed to Hernando County Republicans with the names of candidates in a county commission primary race in the wrong order.

State law requires that candidates be listed on the ballot in alphabetical order according to their surnames. But in the three-way Republican primary race for the County Commission District 1 seat, the name of incumbent Jeff Stabins is listed first, with challenger Michael Burmann under that. The other candidate, Jon "Jaz" Zydenbos, is in the correct spot.

Many more ballots were seen printed with the error but have not yet been mailed, Hernando County Elections Supervisor Annie Williams said late Wednesday. She said she did not have an exact figure on how many were printed.

However, she estimates the cost to reprint all the incorrect ballots and resend the 432 ballots that had been mailed at some $5,000.

Williams learned of the error Wednesday after Stabins called her. A friend of Stabins who'd received a ballot called him.

"No one caught it," Williams said. "Now that it's been found we have to do whatever we can to rectify it."

That won't necessarily happen, though, because state law does not require her to fix the mistake unless one of the candidate files and wins a lawsuit.

The statute does not outline how to enforce the law governing the order of names on a ballot, said Jennifer Davis, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of State. The "mechanism" to enforce the statute is a lawsuit by one of the candidates in the race, Davis said.

"If the candidate would prefer not to spend that money and to leave the ballot as it is, that's up to them because they would be the ones who would be theoretically damaged or not damaged," Davis said.

If the candidate doesn't object, "it's a nonissue," Davis said.

The candidate most in the position to object is Burmann, Williams said. Williams called him Wednesday and offered to fix the error by reprinting all the ballots and resending correct ballots to those voters who already got theirs.

Burmann said he would think about it overnight and get back to Williams today.

Burmann told Hernando Today that Williams and County Attorney Garth Coller wanted him to respond within an hour, he said.

"I don't think this is something you can decide that quickly," he said. "My first inkling was to go ahead and let it fly because it is $5,000 the county would have to spend, but I want to consult with supporters who have a lot more political experience than I do."

Burmann said that friends had pointed out to him recently that he'd be first on the ballot and wondered if that could give him an edge. He said it was disheartening to think voters simply pick the first name on the list and hoped few did so, but he said he has faith that "Hernando County voters will research the facts."

Stabins, however, said new ballots should be printed and mailed.

Otherwise, he said, "it's unfair to my opponents."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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