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Pratt County canvassers review 26 provisional ballots, document three presidential-only write-ins for Trump
Summary
At a special Pratt County canvass meeting, election staff reviewed 26 provisional ballots, recommended counting eight and disallowing 18 as ineligible, recorded three presidential-only write-ins for Donald Trump and completed certification paperwork; a four-way tie was noted for one township treasurer race.
Speaker 1 called a special Pratt County canvass meeting to order to review provisional ballots and certify the election. "This meeting is for provisional ballots and certifying the election," Speaker 1 said, and turned the process over to elections staff (Speaker 2).
Speaker 2 told the board there were 26 provisional ballots in total and recommended that eight be counted and 18 be disallowed as not qualifying. Staff read ballots aloud by ward and township so canvass members could confirm the votes and mark contested or unclear entries. "There were a total of...26 total provisional ballots. We recommended that we count 8 of them and 18 to not count that did not qualify," Speaker 2 said.
During the reading, staff flagged several administrative issues: one ballot was marked as Township 11 but belonged to Township 12, and the board agreed to cross out incorrect trustee/treasurer entries and write in the intended candidate so tallies would reflect the proper jurisdiction. Canvassers confirmed procedures for recording totals, specifying that each race should be tallied separately on its page rather than producing one cumulative total for the sheet.
Staff read candidate selections and judge contest marks as transcribed. Members reconciled a small discrepancy in tallies for one local candidate (Ryan Lund) by comparing sheets, and staff confirmed the reconciled counts. For the presidential-only provisional ballots, staff determined there were three votes for Donald Trump across the sheets examined.
Speaker 2 directed canvassers to sign and date certification pages after completing the tallies. "I'll fill those back. We'll go put them into our official accounts," Speaker 2 said, referring to filing the certified paperwork. The board also recorded an administrative note that a four-way tie appeared for Township 11 treasurer among names appearing on the provisional ballots; board members said the tie would need to be resolved following the applicable rules.
The meeting concluded after paperwork was completed and signatures were obtained. Speaker 1 moved to adjourn; the motion was seconded and the meeting ended with brief acknowledgements.
What this means: the canvassers completed the local step of reviewing provisional ballots and signing certification paperwork for Pratt County. The provisional ballots altered only a small number of votes in local races; staff recorded three presidential-only write-ins for Trump and noted a tied provisional result for one township treasurer race that will require follow-up under election procedures.
