Election administrator reports high undervote in primary, urges precinct consolidation and operational changes

Prairie County's election administrator provided an extensive report on the recent primary election, describing a higher-than-expected number of undervotes, a small number of ballots containing multiple marked ballots, and operational stress on poll judges and staff. She said the county recorded instances where "people were voting 3 ballots," leading to rejected ballots and subsequent record discrepancies.

The administrator proposed consolidating four precincts into two for future elections to reduce the total number of judges required and to shorten the overnight counting process. "If you're gonna consolidate these things, it would make sense to have this open early until...and then a familiar switch over there," she said while describing options to open polls earlier and split shifts to reduce volunteer burden. Commissioners discussed notice and code timelines and noted any change to precinct structure requires checking statutory notice requirements and potentially a public hearing.

Board members and the election administrator also discussed judge recruitment and the audit process. The administrator said staffing for the recent primary depended on many retirees and that she currently needs approximately 29 judges for the present arrangement; consolidating precincts could reduce that headcount. She recommended checking Secretary of State timelines for training and for any 90-day code restrictions before implementing changes.

Commissioners asked staff to research legal timelines and bring back formal proposals, and asked the administrator to prepare cost and staffing estimates for a consolidated precinct model. No formal vote was taken during the meeting; commissioners instructed staff to return with options and legal clarifications ahead of upcoming budget and election deadlines.