BISBEE — It was a strange feeling for District 2 Board of Supervisors candidate Matt Cook.

Early ballots were being sent out to voters in his district, but without his name on them, he said Monday morning.

County Recorder Christine Rhodes confirmed the error. Her department sent out  2,070 incorrect early ballots.

Cook is running as an nonpartisan candidate against Democrat Ann English and Republican Harvey Allen. As a nonpartisan candidate, Cook’s name was not included on the ballots for the primary election. This was part of the cause of the error.

When data from the primary ballot was changed to reflect the candidates who would be running in the general election, his name was omitted.

That information was forwarded to the printing company. When the general election sample ballot was proofed by county staff, the error slid right by for a second time, explained Karla Jensen, county public information officer.

“County elections staff were alerted of the errors on Oct. 5 and convened immediately on Monday to determine the best action to get corrected ballots to the voters in these districts as soon as possible,” Jensen stated. “Only voters in the communities represented by the following communities are impacted by the (ballot errors).”

The areas affected are: Pomerene, Bisbee, Douglas, Tombstone, Elfrida, McNeal, Double Adobe, Naco, Portal, Pirtleville, the Moson Road neighborhood and portions of Palominas and Hereford, Jensen said.

But, another problem with the ballots also was discovered. Pomerene school district seats were to be separated out to reflect the two-year and four-year terms; they weren’t.

So, now the county has to send out corrected ballots to those who have already mailed in or dropped off their ballots or cast their ballots at the county’s voting machine in the recorder’s office.

Due to the quick action of county personnel, the new ballots with the corrections could be in the mail by the end of the week.

Voters in the impacted precincts will receive official notification and a corrected ballot in the next few days, Jensen stated. The process for invalidating the original early ballots and tallying the corrected ballots will include the following:

• Notification and a clearly labeled corrected ballot will be sent to the list of all registered voters in the affected communities who were originally mailed an early ballot.

• Those voters who have not yet completed their early ballots will be asked to discard or destroy the original ballots and complete the corrected ballot they receive to ensure that only one ballot per voter is counted

• Those voters who have already mailed a completed early ballot will still receive a notice and “Corrected Ballot” and should vote the corrected ballot.

• Registered voters in these precincts who have voted by early ballot in person at the County Recorder’s Bisbee office will be asked to vote again using a corrected ballot. The corrected ballot will be mailed to voters who have voted in person. Anyone arriving to vote in person in the next few days will be asked to provide a mailing address for this purpose.

“If election officials receive an original and a corrected ballot by the same person, the corrected ballot will be considered as the only valid vote,” added Jensen.

Cook said he was impressed with the efficiency of the county staff in seeking to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

Election officials Tom Schelling, Katie Howard and Pat Viverto, Rhodes, Civil Deputy Attorneys Britt Hanson and Ann Carl, Jensen, candidate Ann English, and Cook (with Bob Bland and Gail Griffin on speakerphones) reviewed and worked out the details, according to Cook.

Cook stated, “The ability of the election office and the county to successfully define, analyze and solve the problem was a testament to the ability of our government to respond to a complex challenge quickly, while keeping fairness and justice always as the guiding principle. I’m converted from someone who felt skeptical about the county’s ability to solve this fairly into a person who is proud to live in Cochise County. I’ve long felt that Cochise County needs much to become what it can be; what I saw today shows me it is truly possible.”

Cook continued, “Britt deserves credit for his leadership of the meeting. He balanced a lot of full plates as we worked out the details while more people kept coming to the table. I was impressed. Tom Schelling was an excellent model of openness and an ability to contain the entire scope of the problem in his mind as he envisioned how possible solutions would fit this complex model.”

For more information, call the elections office at 432-8970.