Primary Election Ballot Snafu Will Cost A Yardley Candidate

YARDLEY, PA —When voters go to the polls in Tuesday's primary election, they're going to see something on the ballot that isn't correct.

Borough Council President Caroline Thompson had announced the seven-candidate Democratic ticket where all seven council seats are up for vote at the same time for the first time in the borough's history.

And for the primary election, all seven candidates were running unopposed with no candidates even running on the Republican side.

But one candidate is going to lose the primary election.

For a two-year term, Thompson and Councilmen Don Carlson and Uri Feiner are joined by newcomer Jared Stump.

Voters were supposed to be able to choose all four candidates. But the ballot states that only three candidates can be chosen.

With the ballots already printed and mail-in ballots having been sent out, there's not much that can be done, said Karen Vander Laan, chairwoman of the Lower Makefield-Yardley Democratic Party.

"There was a screw-up," Vander Laan told Patch Thursday. "I'm not going to name names. The information was sent to the Board of Elections. I reviewed it and they reviewed it."

But the ballot came out differently.

"I feel responsible for not having it correct," Vander Laan said. "Someone is going to lose Tuesday."

Meanwhile, the four-year term is the opposite.

For the four-year term, residents should have been able to choose three candidates from council members Kim Segal-Morris and David Appelbaum, and newcomer Michelle Sharer. Now there are only three candidates for the four seats.

And while Vander Laan and Thompson reached out to the Bucks County Board of Elections, there's been no word back.

A call to the Bucks County Board of Elections was not returned.

Thompson had told Patch that the county board was speaking to its solicitor about the matter.

"I talked to each of the candidates and they were upset," Vander Laan said. "They were all endorsed candidates. It's unfortunate but fixable."

Vander Laan said she hasn't heard back from the county elections board but she said that the top three candidates for the two-year term will be on the ballot in November and that the Democratic party will have until mid-August to "appoint" the fourth candidate to the ticket.

Each of the four candidates should have at least the 10 votes required that would make them eligible for the November election, she said.

She also said the county election commissioners may have to make a decision on Yardley's ballot after the primary election.

"It's going to be embarrassing for the one who gets the least votes," Vander Laan said. "This is horrifying. We're trying to figure out what happened."