UPDATE: Decaturish has obtained internal emails from Peggy Merriss, Marc Wisniewski and the Director of DeKalb County Registration & Elections H. Maxine Daniels regarding this redistricting error.

Back on Election Day, you may recall a conversation among commenters here about how they did not see the contested School Board race on their ballot, though they knew they were residents of District 1.

Well, it turns out it wasn’t an isolated incident or just a mistaken voter sounding off.

The DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections has sent a letter to Decatur City Clerk Janet Kindelberger admitting that they failed to incorporate changes to the district boundaries submitted by the city back in August.  As such, “the boundary change affected a small portion of district combo 687 ofthe Ponce de Leon precinct.”

DeKalb stated that their internal analysis concluded that 10 voters were given the wrong ballot.  Since the race was decided by 75 votes, DeKalb determined the error would not affect the outcome of the race.  You can read the full letter HERE.

A email sent to DM and Decaturish by Mark Arnold’s Campaign Manager, Alvin McNeely, stated that though the Arnold campaign didn’t agree with the findings that only 10 voters were affected, since it’s impossible to determine “how many other people didn’t make it to the polls because they relied on the incorrect records”, the campaign did not plan to challenge the results.

You can read Mr. McNeely’s full letter to us after the jump.

In order to “minimize the chance that such an incident occurs again” DeKalb has requested that Decatur “that future notifications of district changes be made on a more formal basis, including a full-size map in addition to any PDF version and a cover letter summarizing the changes being conveyed by the revised map. Secondly, upon completion of our changes, We will deliver to you a revised street file for your documentation and review for accuracy prior to any subsequent elections.”

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Go DeKalb has some new statements from Decatur commissioner Jim Baskett and his opponent Alvin McNeely in the upcoming Nov 6th election.

After reading it, I’m left wondering if there is any difference between these two candidates other than their professions.

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Photos Courtesy of the AJC

When the AJC voter’s guide asked the two men running against each other for the only disputed city commission seat on Nov. 6th , both made sure to include elements of the city’s drafted Community Transportation Plan in their response to the question “If elected, what will be your priorities?”

In addition to both making promises of tax relief, current commissioner Jim Baskett specifically mentioned “Improve safety at railroad crossings” (pages 12-21 of the Streets section of the Transportation Plan) while challenger Alvin McNeely gave a synopsis of the plan “I want to make sure that the bike lanes, sidewalks, greenspace, traffic calming, and other quality-of-life measures get implemented. Quickly.”

Both also mentioned addressing the concerns of future development, with Baskett looking to “protect the property owners that are in R-60 zoning from being overwhelmed by adjacent commercial properties“, (originally a concern brought about by the E Howard/Hillyer St condo development), while McNeely wants to address the issue of infill (see DeKalb Infill Overlay Ordinance).

To see how the candidates answered other questions like “What experience will help you in this job?”, “What’s the best thing an elected official in the post you are seeking can do for your community?” and “If you were stranded on a desert island…” (I’m serious) click here.