| 10/15/2008 9:06:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Misspelling may mislead voters
Casey Mills- Mail Staff Writer
City officials said a spelling error on city ballot issue 2A could suggest to voters that voting yes would not only increase sales tax, but double the city property tax.
The word should be "repeal" but erroneously appears at "repeat."
"Somewhere in the process it went from 'repeal' to 'repeat,'" Interim City Administrator Mike Copp said Tuesday. "Somehow we missed it."
Ballot issue 2A offers voters the choice of increasing city sales tax by 1 percent and at the same time repealing the city portion of property tax.
If passed, the added sales tax would generate approximately $1.2 million for street maintenance and repair and other infrastructure expenses.
"All of the documents we saw leading up to printing of the ballots looked okay," Copp said. "The city clerk looked at the ballot language and thought it was OK."
No one is sure at what point in the process "repeal" was changed to "repeat," but city officials want voters to know about the mistake.
"It is correct in the very last sentence of the ballot question," Copp said. "But the initial question at the top is incorrect."
The error also appears on thousands of sample ballots distributed throughout the city at public libraries, city hall and other public buildings.
City officials are looking into possible remedies before polls open at 7 a.m. Nov. 4.
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