County Clerk Advises Voters Not To Cross Party Lines On Primary Ballot

(Juneau) Voters are being reminded that they cannot cross party lines in next Tuesday’s primary. That means Dodge County residents wanting to vote in the Republican race for Dodge County Sheriff and the democratic gubernatorial race will have to make a choice.

Dodge County Clerk Karen Gibson says she has received numerous questions from voters wanting to have a say in each race. During a recent WBEV’s Community Comment, Gibson explained that if a person chooses to vote democrat they will not be able to write-in a Dodge County sheriff’s candidate on their ballot because both officials candidates are running as republicans. So, that means you cannot vote for a democratic candidate for governor and – in the race for sheriff – write in Dale Schmidt or Jim Ketchem in the democrat’s section of the ballot. Gibson says “it does not work that way” even though it would not negate the ballot entirely.

She says if a voter picks a party on the ballot all selections under that party will be counted while any write-ins or votes for the opposite party will be disregarded. Gibson says the only time a ballot is rejected outright is when a voter does not choose a specific party at the top of the ballot and crosses parties. She says the machine will read the ballot as a “cross-over” and the poll workers will give the voter an opportunity to select a party before submitting.

 

Listen to our conversation with Gibson here: