When is an official election count not an official election count?

When 17 absentee ballots turn up after a legal deadline but are counted anyway, according to Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swenson.

Those 17 ballots made for a tense Monday for two candidates in Salt Lake City Council District 7. The race for second place between Gordon Poulson and Danny Walz was close enough after the Oct. 4 primary to force two careful counts, which showed Poulson had prevailed by two votes to take the second slot in the Nov. 8 general election.

The additional ballots, however, put the recounts into question Monday when the Salt Lake City Council debated the merits of allowing the ballots to be admitted into the official results.

The county handled this month's primary election for Salt Lake City, but late absentee ballots forced a third count of ballots in the District 7 City Council race. The results of the election didn't change after the additional recount — Soren Simonsen and Poulson still advance to the Nov. 8 general election with Walz barely edged out — but the delay to Poulson's campaign and the hassle of another recount grated on his nerves.

"I just think it's ridiculous," Poulson said. "The county really dropped the ball on this one because no one needs to be in this position."

After Monday's count, Simonsen had 395 votes, Poulson had 286 and Walz had 283.

Absentee ballots have to be postmarked by Monday, Oct. 3 to be counted, and the county must receive the ballots by noon on Tuesday, Oct. 11, to count them.

The county's election manager Julio Garcia said the straggling ballots were not delivered, however, until after the Tuesday, noon deadline and therefore couldn't be counted.

Garcia told Swenson of his decision Thursday, Oct. 13, but Swenson had some heartburn about it because of the narrow margin of victory for the second spot on the general election. Simonsen won the primary, Poulson finished second with 282 votes and Walz finished third with 280.

Swenson said the votes could count if the city wanted them. The city couldn't respond until Monday because Swenson's office called late Friday, city elections clerk Sonya Kintaro said.

After some legal research of its own Monday morning, the city decided the votes should count.

The issue raised several concerns for City Council members Monday. They wondered why the issue could not have been resolved Thursday, if the county knew about it, to give Walz the weekend to campaign. Now, Walz has three weeks before the general election.

"I would have jumped right out after the primary," Walz said. But "being so close, I didn't want to go out and spend money and time if it was going to be overturned. You kind of lose momentum if you're not sure."

"That is a concern," Kintaro said. "The county has to answer for that."

Swenson said it was a matter of getting all the legal ducks in a row so the county could determine if the ballots could be counted.

---

E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com