Town clerk details absentee-ballot curing and "defective ballot" handling

Flo-Ann Dango, the town clerk, outlined procedures the town will use to handle returned mail-in ballots and ballots that cannot be read by the tabulator. "When the mail in ballot is received in the presence of both the Town Clerk and Deputy Clerk the outer envelope is opened and check whether the certificate envelope is signed and sealed," Dango said, describing the curing process. She said if the certificate is not properly filled out the voter will be notified by phone, email, or mail to come into the office to complete the certificate.

Dango and other board members described how the tabulator deals with poorly marked ballots and unreadable mail ballots. Mike Stankevich explained that the tabulator "will kick the ballot out, so the voter has the opportunity to correct their ballot," and that a spoiled ballot is handed to the presiding officer and placed in an envelope labeled "defective ballot." The Board recommended stamping such spoiled ballots "defective" as an extra safeguard to ensure they are never counted. The clerk also said all write-in names will be reported in the final tally.

The discussion emphasized practical steps for preserving ballot integrity while allowing voters to correct errors, and clarified that unreadable absentee ballots are placed in the tabulator's hand-count bin for manual processing. The board did not record any differing procedures or objections during the meeting; no formal policy change beyond these procedural recommendations was adopted at this session.