Update: 'No Remedy' for Sandy Springs Voters Given the Wrong Ballot

Faith Vandiver supports Patty Berkovitz for City Council and intended to vote for her when she went to the polls at the Church of the Atonement. She was given a District 5 ballot, even though the Fulton County Voting District Maps show she lives in District 6.

“I was going to vote for Patty, as were the other three people that I mentioned,” Vandiver said. “We weren’t able to vote for the people we wanted to vote for. I asked if there would be a recall or another election for people that fall into my category.”

We learned from Berkovitz that the problem had been fixed, but it turns not completely fixed. 

Berkovitz and Vandiver said Dwight Brower, the Fulton County Elections Chief informed them that voters who received an incorrect ballot can return before the polls close and vote again on a newly created ballot. 

That was not the case. Vandiver and two friends returned to the Church of Atonement precinct and learned they cannot vote again.

“There is no way to cancel an electronic vote,” Brower told Patch. “It’s for those people that did not vote. They can have a ballot created on the machine that will reflect their proper District 6. There is no remedy for people who have already cast their ballot.”

Vandiver said, “He did not say that to me. He made a statement that yes I could and they would do something in the system - which sounded a little weird - and that would allow us to get a new vote for District 6 and cast a new ballot. I took my two elderly neighbors back over there. One was already undressed and one was falling asleep. That’s how important it was to vote for Patty.”

Doris Sitka is equally frustrated.  She said they first went to vote about 1:30 p.m. and arrived to see a sample ballot of the District 6 candidates posted on the bulletin board. It showed exactly what they expected to see, Sitka said. “When I inserted the card to vote it wasn’t the slate for District 6,” she said.

Sitka voted from the District 5 ballot.

“Now they tell us that we are positively in District 6 and we cannot vote again. How can that be,” she asked.

Berkovitz knows of at least six voters who received the wrong ballot. Vandiver wonders about all of the potential voters in the condominums where she and Sitka live.

“This is a close race and every vote counts,” Berkoviitz said. “More importantly people have a right to vote in their district. They have done their homework and come prepared to vote for the person they want.”

Provisional ballots

Sandy Springs spokesperson Sharon Kraun said the city sought to make sure that provisional ballots were at every polling location. There were no provisional ballots at the Church of Atonement precinct. The Elections Chief said, "I didn’t realize they were not any provisional ballots at the polls."