Both incumbents were re-elected to the Parkville Board of Aldermen in the special election held Tuesday, May 21.
In ward one, Philip Wassmer received 154 votes to Weston Coble’s 116 votes — 57 percent to 43 percent — according to the unofficial results from the Platte County Board of Elections.
In ward three, Doug Wylie received 185 votes to Scott Herbig’s 156 votes — 53 percent to 45 percent. A third candidate, Scott Curran, received only six votes.
The Board of Elections became aware of possible problems in the Parkville election on Tuesday, April 2 when voters noticed their ballots were incorrect — it was later determined voters were registered in the wrong ward.
At the end of the night April 2, Wassmer and Coble tied for the ward one seat, each receiving 187 votes. Ward three had three candidates, with Wylie edging out his challengers. In that race, Wylie earned 215 votes, beating Herbig’s 211 votes. Curran received 22 votes.
Soon, the board was investigating the error and notified the City of Parkville, which released a statement supporting the Board of Elections’ decision.
The Board of Elections sent the matter to the Platte County Circuit Court, which authorized the special election to re-run the elections for these two wards.
The new election is estimated to cost about $4,500.
According to the board of elections, some voters residing in newer residences on Limestone Court were provided with incorrect ballots. Voters residing in these homes were listed in county records as ward one residents instead of ward three. Before the error was discovered, thirteen voters in ward three cast a ward one ballot. These 13 votes incorrectly affected the results in ward one, and the true intentions of the voters were not registered in ward three.
Because the results were by a margin of less than 13 votes, it was not possible to declare a winner in either ward.