Voting continues in Cherryvale despite an error on the ballot.

 

Montgomery County Clerk Ami Standridge says a candidate filed paperwork for an office in a ward different from the one in which they live in. She says the filing was accepted in good faith during the filing period, as election officials rely solely on the documents and fees submitted by candidates.

 

Standridge says the candidate met statutory requirements, including payment of the filing fee and completion of a declaration of intent. Under Kansas law, once a name has been certified and printed on the ballot, the county clerk does not have the authority to remove or alter it, even in cases involving filing errors. The legal impact of the mistake is now under review.

 

Norman Johnson appears on the ballot for Cherryvale Ward 1, but does not live in that ward and Ward 2 has no one on the ballot, which is also incorrect. A Cherryvale citizen says they reached out to Standridge when the sample ballots came out notifying her of the error.

 

The full letter from Standridge can be seen below.