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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012
Stuurmans purchase makes way for street
VOL. 18, NO. 12
Election under way
By Elisabeth Murray Staff Reporter
The Town of Coupeville is one step closer to building a new street to connect Broadway and North Main. A timeline has not yet been established for the transportation project, and Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard said it could take 2030 years for the Fourth Street extension to be completed. From downtown Coupeville, Madrona Way to Coveland Street currently provides the most direct connection between Broadway and Main streets. A secondary corridor meanders through residential neighborhoods. The future of the street depends on the plans of two property owners, Cecil Stuurmans and Ted Clifton. The two developers own parcels between Broadway and Main that are large enough to be subdivided. Their building plans would affect the street’s location as well as when it could be built, Conard said. The developers would foot the bill for the roadway’s cost, she said. The town began acquiring land for the connector in 2006 when it purchased 209 NW Broadway for $250,000. The new road would begin at this location with current plans placing its terminus near the Joseph Libbey House at 308 North Main St. Conard said that it’s unlikely this road will be straight. The town recently sold 209 Broadway “as is” to Cecil Stuurmans for $112,000 cash minus a 40-foot easement. The town council had deemed the remainder of the property to be surplus to the town’s needs. The town had initially planned on demolishing the home and would not have recouped any costs involved, Conard said. But when the town realized the property was large enough to conform with town standards even with the removal of the easement, the plan evolved to allow the town to get some of its money back, she said. The house at 209 Broadway was first listed for sale with Windermere Real Estate in April 2011 for $165,000, and the lower price reflected the value of the property minus the value of the right of way. According to Conard, two offers were made and then withdrawn during the feasibility studies. See STREET, page 5
Elisabeth Murray photo
M’lissa Christopherson, retired Elections Supervisor Loann Gulick and Maria Allen check ballots at the Island County Elections Office. When a ballot arrives, workers scan the barcode on the green mailing envelope. The voter’s signature pops up on the screen, and workers compare it with the one on the envelope. Workers undergo signature analysis training before each election season. The system also gives the voter credit for participating in the election – and blocks them from voting twice. Election ballots are due by Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Ballot count requires attention to detail By Elisabeth Murray Staff Reporter
When Greenbank resident Anne Hallam called the Island County Elections Office with a problem with her ballot, she was shocked by the instructions they gave her. Hallam had voted, sealed the ballot inside the two envelopes, and signed her name. She then realized she had signed the envelope with her husband’s name typed on it. “This is a really important election,” said Hallam, adding that all elections matter. “I want to make sure that my vote and my husband’s vote get counted.” According to Michele Reagan, Island County voter registration deputy, the elections office gets a lot of calls from voters who are worried their ballot will end up being discarded. “The most common phone call that we receive is family members that have signed each other’s envelopes,” said Reagan. She said it is much harder for voters to make a mistake than they realize, and there are often easy solutions. In the case of signing the wrong envelope, the family members can send their ballots in that way, and the person who signed
the ballot gets credit for voting. The office checks to see the signature of the signer matches what they have on file. Or they can cross out the signatures and provide the correct John Hancocks. But Hallam, concerned that the bar coded ballot was linked to her name, which it is not, called back and was told that she could also open the green envelopes, swap the contents, seal and sign the correct envelope. Concerned that the envelopes appear to be tampered with, Hallam said she plans to hand deliver the ballots to ensure that they get counted. This is not the only time the elections office sees ballots that have been opened and resealed. If voters decide to change their mind before the ballot has been delivered, a simple fix is to open it back up, make the change
and reseal it. Reagan said the voter should write a note explaining that they reopened their envelope, and initial or sign again. For a simple bubbling error, the instructions included with the ballot indicate that it is okay to put a single line through the incorrect choice, and fill in the desired square. For times when it is difficult to determine what the voter wants, the workers reference the “Voter’s Intent Manual,” a 78-page guide present at each election office to make such determinations. The election workers check each sheet and look for mistakes, as well as ballots with write-in candidates. These are separated into a different pile to be “manually resolved.” And while some voters think it’s funny to write-in a fictional character, like Mickey See BALLOTS, page 6