Upper Silver Creek Estates resident Kim Keffer pays taxes to the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District. But when her ballot arrived this month, the district’s $71 million bond question wasn’t on it.
“My husband opened his ballot and said, ‘Where's the bond assessment?’” Keffer told KPCW. “Then I looked, and that whole column is white, and his is, and my daughter’s, and so then I just called a couple of my neighbors.”
Silver Creek residents compared ballots and reached out to the Summit County Clerk’s Office Monday.
Interim Clerk Malena Stevens said the office identified 50 voters who should have received the bond question but did not.
They live in the two northernmost precincts of Silver Creek Estates: 22SCRU:8 and 22SCRU:50. Only those precincts are affected.
The county attributes the issue to a historical mapping error and is investigating.
Voters receiving new ballots
Stevens said the clerk’s office is contacting all 50 voters and mailing corrected ballots. Anyone who already returned the original ballot will still receive a replacement and should vote again.
“All of the 50 ballots that were previously issued, we’ve flagged in our system,” Stevens said. “If people have returned their ballots, they will be flagged and pulled out of the system and stored separately.”
So only the corrected ballot will count if it’s returned.
If the county receives only the original ballot — without the Basin Rec bond on it — Stevens said votes cast in the other races will still count.
For Silver Creek, that includes races like Utah House District 4, Utah’s 3rd Congressional District and the office of clerk itself.
Resident LuAnn Lukenbach doesn’t know yet how she’ll vote.
“I’m going out of town on Saturday for 10 days, but I’ll be back on Tuesday, which I think is Election Day,” she said. “I could go in person and vote, and so if I don't get my ballot before I leave, then that's probably what I'll do.”
The missing question asks Basin Recreation district voters to authorize up to $71 million in bonds for new fieldhouse facilities in Jeremy Ranch and Silver Creek Village, including a new pool and climbing center.
Basin Rec estimates a $1 million primary residence will pay $121 more in annual property tax if it passes.
“This highlights the importance of vote-by-mail,” Stevens said. “If an error like this were to occur and we did not have vote-by-mail, there would be no way of correcting this on Election Day.”
County investigation
Stevens said her office is still investigating the mapping error that led to the two Silver Creek precincts getting incorrect ballots.
But it appears to be related to how mapping software called GIS processed the map of Basin Rec boundaries, which were originally created in 1986.
“How we get the information for which precincts should be included in a district boundary is based off of the GIS pulling the maps, and then telling us which precincts are included within the maps of district boundaries,” she said.
Stevens said, because the Basin Rec boundary map was “vague,” the software didn’t correctly report which precincts were within the district. She said her office will consult tax records in future bond elections to make sure no voter is missed.
Mail-in ballots must arrive at the clerk’s office or be in a drop box by Election Day, Nov. 3, to be counted.
