Wall, Thompson incompetent in Winder voters fiasco

In what universe would it be thought acceptable to undertake a voters list purge that could have resulted in dozens of citizens having to vote two provisional ballots on election day?

Although Winder leaders reportedly backed down from their actions and are now planning to start over again, that does not mitigate the ineptness and incompetence that created this mess. And this fiasco can be laid directly at the feet of city clerk and election superintendent Sabrina Wall and Mayor Chip Thompson.

It is Thompson’s arrogant leadership style — his bent for secrecy and an “I know it all” attitude — that created the atmosphere for this to happen. Thompson doesn’t like to share information, even with his own city council, most of whom had no idea that city hall was engaged in a massive voter purge process. Perhaps if the council had known what its appointed staff was doing, someone would have asked the obvious questions that may have prevented the process from spiraling out of control.

But if Thompson set the tone, it was Wall who mishandled the details. Maybe that’s because she’s been too busy running city festivals and attending to city politics that she hasn’t had time to pay attention to the really important things, like the city’s voters list.

Whatever the problem, Wall dropped the ball. She undertook a major overhaul of the city’s voters list in August with no public notice and no real plan of how it should be done.

Now Wall, Thompson and others are backing up and are apparently going to attempt to start the process of culling the voters list on a smaller scale. We shall see if that’s the case, or if they’re again blowing smoke and misleading the public.

If Wall and Thompson are wise, they will put the entire mess on hold until after the elections. Why rush to purge the list today?
Had this issue not come to light last week, the result could have been a large number of people being told on election day that they couldn’t vote a regular ballot and would be required to vote a “provisional” ballot instead. Just imagine the confusion and frustration that would have resulted.

Of course, Wall doesn’t seem to care. In her eyes, it’s no big deal to be asked to vote a provisional ballot.

But it is. The city, through its own sloppiness, would have questioned the veracity of a number of voters, essentially telling people they could vote, but only under a cloud of suspicion.

Perhaps Ms. Wall doesn’t see that as a big problem, but many voters would disagree. A provisional ballot isn’t counted until after the regular voting. Those who voted a provisional ballot might never know if their vote counted.

And in a close election, those provisional ballots could play a major role in the outcome. Indeed, having a large number of provisional ballots in a close election could lead to court challenges and a protracted debate over the outcome. And this November involves two big elections, one in Winder and the other county-wide; both could be affected.

So while Wall and her toadies are downplaying the possible impact of provisional voting, it is a very big deal.

Nobody questions the need to keep a voters list updated. That’s part of the elections process.

But if a city is going to undertake a massive update that could result in 40 percent of its list being challenged, it’s not just some routine matter as Wall treated it. She should have begun months ago and informed the public and the city council that the effort would be going on. And rather than just using city utility lists for the project, she should have sought multiple sources, made phone calls and held public hearings to verify the information.

Instead, Wall had her husband “volunteer” to cull the list by accessing city utility customers. He apparently decided to delete anyone from the list who didn’t have city water in their name, a decision that just doesn’t make sense on any level.

Wall’s leadership on this effort to purge the voters list was Mickey Mouse. It wasn’t professional and it was obviously done with little thought or foresight. “Amateurish” comes to mind when one looks at just how badly officials handled the process.

And for Thompson to have personally been a part of the purging process was inane. Why would he or Wall ever think it was OK for him to be part of taking names off the voter list? He’s on the ballot!

Since all of this has come to light, Wall and Thompson have done what public officials often do; circle the wagons and blame someone else. In this case, they are blaming the Journal, claiming we “exaggerated” the matter and that we provided “misinformation.” They also claim that the list of 2,100 names we published last week wasn’t the “final” list.

None of that is true. The list of 2,100 names we published had been vetted by the city twice and sent to the county for processing. We got the list from the county via an open records request. If it’s not “final,” then why were the records sent to the county in the first place?

If the Journal had not exposed this fiasco, every person whose name was published, plus some 900 more names, would have gotten a notification that their voting status was being challenged. Few would have had time to straighten it out before the re-registration deadline of Oct. 11. Wall may deny that, but she’s not being truthful. Monday night, she mislead the city council just as she has lied to the public.

Wall and Thompson didn’t want any of this exposed, of course. They wanted to purge the list on a massive scale without any challenge.
Was that for political reasons? Perhaps. If not for politics, then it was a massive amount of incompetence.

The integrity of the voting process, including how voter registrations are handled, is vitally important. That process has to be done carefully and thoughtfully, otherwise the credibility of the system will be in doubt.

Both Wall and Thompson are responsible for this mess and for the public outcry that ensued when the Journal brought it to light. They can deny, blame and obfuscate all they want, but the burden of this debacle rests on their shoulders.

They messed up — now they are reaping what they have sown.

Mike Buffington is co-publisher of the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.