By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
There were no changes in the Nov. 8 general election results following canvassing Thursday by the Ellis County Commission.
Of the 90 provisional votes, 65 were accepted, according to Election Officer and County Clerk Bobbi Dreiling.
āAnd those were all because either the voter lived in county and changed addresses or changed names," she said. "There was one we could not find their name in the poll book but they were eligible to vote.ā
The 25 ballots rejected were due to the voters not being registered in Ellis County. There were no discrepancies found in the results.
The only contested race was for state representative 111th District, pitting incumbent Republican Barb Wasinger against Democratic newcomer Ed Hammond, both of Hays. Wasinger defeated Hammond by a considerable margin ā 5,038 to 3,291.
Commissioners thanked Dreiling and her staff who conducted four elections this year ā the primary and general elections as well as special elections regarding bond issues for the Hays and Ellis school districts.
"I've heard nothing but good things about how your office has handed all these elections this year, including the special elections," said Joe Leroux, Third District commissioner.
"I appreciate that," Dreiling responded with a big smile. "I have the best election board workers."
There were also some write-ins for Ellis County the nine township clerks and four of those were tied.
So Dreiling had commissioners draw the candidate names out of a small wicker basket.
Results for the tied township races were:
Big Creek Township - Jamie Graham
Victoria Township -Jerry Brungardt
Lookout Township - Larry Reichert
Wheatland Township - Todd Neiman
The winners will be sent an official certificate with the option to decline the office, Dreiling explained.
As required by state law, a post-audit was conducted by hand of one percent of the county's 34 precincts. That included Ward 3, Precinct 1, Commission District 1, 111th state house district, and the constitutional amendment question regarding election of sheriffs.
"They were all perfect ā matched the machine results ā after our hand count," Dreiling reported.
Voter turnout was 54.35 percent. Out of a total 19,526 registered voters, there were 10,612 ballots cast.
The final election results were unanimously certified 3-0 by the county commissioners. You can find the results on the Ellis County website.