Butler County's proposed resolutions to an incorrectly placed candidate for the Mars Area School District board of directors were partially accepted by the Department of State and Election Systems & Software over the weekend.

To resolve the issue of a Republican-only filed candidate appearing on both Republican and Democratic primary ballots, the county will place a white mailing sticker over the candidate's name on Democratic ballots, post signs in the seven relevant precincts, have a sticker on a card that voters receive when they receive their ballot and offer mail-in voters the chance to rectify their votes.

The county's first-offered solution, to re-print ballots, was rejected because the ballot-scanning machines were locked to their current calibrations, and changing the format of the ballot would require changing the calibration, which is impossible to do after the machines were already locked in, according to county solicitor Wil White. Thus, other, more low-tech, solutions were required.

White said while Act 77 forbids the use of stickers or labels to mark paper ballots, the Department of State agreed with the county's interpretation of the statute to mean voters could not bring in pre-printed stickers with which to vote.

With that obstacle cleared, White said, the county was permitted to use white mailing labels to cover up the name of Lee Ann Riner, a candidate filed only as Republican, on the Democratic ballots in seven precincts voting for Mars Area school board candidates.

Because there was a lingering question of whether the scanners would be able to scan a ballot with such a label on it, Election Systems & Software, the company producing scanners used by the county, had to weigh in on the issue. Over the weekend, according to White, ES&S notified them the labels would work, but other solutions such as White Out tape would not.

Also approved by the Department of State were other low-tech solutions such as flyers within polling places and stickers on cards handed to voters informing them of the error.

For mail-in voters, they will have the chance to spoil their ballot and cast a new vote.

“We're emailing them and making them aware of the error,” White said.

Voters who may have cast a vote for Riner on a Democratic ballot will have the opportunity, according to White, to come to the Elections Bureau before polls close, cancel their mailed ballot and cast a new vote. Those who cannot make it to the county seat will have the option to cast a provisional ballot at their precinct.

For those who may want to vote for Riner on a Democratic ballot, White said they will still need to correct their vote: They may write her in, but they cannot check the box next to her printed name. Every vote cast for Riner on a Democratic ballot that is not a write-in vote will not be counted, White said.