650 Ypsilanti residents may have received ballots without instructions
Update: City Clerk Frances McMullen said she has mailed out letters notifying the 650 residents who possibly could have received ballots without instructions.
The city of Ypsilanti plans to send letters to 650 people who may have received absentee ballots without instructions, City Clerk Frances McMullen said Tuesday.
The city so far has received two complaints from residents who said they received ballots without marking instructions.
Frances McMullen
Rutledge recently left to take a job within another city.
"What I'm doing is trying to catch that first run because those are the ones I'm not sure about," McMullen said. "Since the deputy clerk left, I've trained the staff so they know what to do."
In an email Tuesday afternoon, McMullen wrote that she will be sending instructions to the 650 people who received ballots before the staffing change. She said she would include a note asking recipients to contact the clerk's office for another ballot if they feel they have incorrectly marked their ballot.
"They can be issued another ballot," McMullen said.
The first complaint came from a resident who said he and an acquaintance received their absentee ballots about two weeks ago and noticed that no instructions were included regarding how to mark the ballot. The resident expressed concern over whether voters who haven't received the instructions could potentially invalidate their ballots by not following directions.
A second complaint came from another resident today, McMullen said.
"That's enough for me," McMullen said. "It could be all of those (ballots)... The most important thing is for the public to know they voted correctly."
To date, the city has sent out 1,013 absentee ballots.
In the past, directions were printed directly on the ballot, but legislation passed this May removes the instructions from the ballot and instead places them on a separate sheet that can be placed inside of the envelope or inside of a secrecy sleeve attached to the envelope.
The clerk's office can be reached at (734) 483-1100. Ballot instructions are also on the city's website.
Comments
metrichead
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 2:09 a.m.
I work in a City Clerk's Office helping to run an election. I can tell you, the city shouldn't have to place instructions on absentee ballots. AVBs have always come with secrecy sleeves. This year, because the ballots are so long, there wasn't enough room to print instructions on them. So now they have the instructions printed on the secrecy sleeve that the ballot is placed in. If the City Clerk's Office had this, they would not have had to spend time placing a couple thousand separate pieces of paper into every AVB envelopes.
Frances McMullan
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 10:51 a.m.
metrichead, you are correct however we chose the option to continue using our old AVB envelopes since we have so many that are still in good shape and just insert the ballot marking instruction sheet. This is what we did for the August election and it worked fine. Yes, it would eliminate a piece of paper because we currently insert a reminder of the postage required for returning the ballot also. Didn't think we would run into a problem but things happen and I will probably be ordering the new envelopes!!!
YpsilantiLoyalOne
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 7:41 a.m.
It is my understanding that they used old secrecy sleeves so they would need instructions in them. It is an option to insert the directions or use the new envelope. Could have been a cost saving issue but it looks like tossing all the old ones would prevent this from ever happening again.
tellingthetruth
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 1:59 a.m.
Frances McMullen is the prime example of someone wanting a position, but doesnt deserve the job and takes no pride in the position she has. this article sounds funny and almost made up, and very self serving on the part of Frances McMullen. the buck stops at your desk McMullen stop blaming others for your incompetence. i've dealt with mrs Frances on several occasions and to say my experience was less than professional would be an understatement. good luck to ms Rutledge i know you'll be missed. sorry you got thrown under the bus .
Iwitness
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 12:30 p.m.
Ms. McMullan is very professional, organized and courteous. To say that she is self-serving is not true at all and very mean. With such a small staff she goes out of her way to make sure things are done right, oftentimes doing things herself. She is not a clerk that sits around and does nothing but delegate. She works hard every day. She has even been accused of micro-managing and not trusting the work of her employee but that's not true it just shows how much she cares about doing things right and now I understand why she may have been micro-managing some things. When asked the questions about the process, she answered truthfully stating the deputy clerk oversaw the first batch so she wasn't exactly sure how many didn't have inserts if not all of them since she didn't actually stuff the envelopes. When Ms. McMullan asked staff questions we answered truthfully. In May the law was new but we first implemented it for the August election when we were instructed to insert the instructions and continue to use the old sleeves. Ms. McMullan had no reason to doubt the process would not continue. Although it was a task of the deputy clerk, Ms. McMullan knows she is responsible for the office and she reiterated that she wasn't trying to implicate anyone. Even when the reporter called she told her that who did what was not important as getting the information about the ballot instructions out to the voters. A self-serving person hides and sweeps things under the rug to protect her own image and attacks whenever their work is called into question. Lets be clear this is not an issue about Ms. Rutledge it is about the voter and if Ms. Rutledge was in charge of the process she was in charge of it and no one can change that. Ms. McMullan has corrected things lets move on. Any intelligent person can see Ms. McMullan's only interest is making things right for the voter and I commend her, that is what a good clerk does!
Commoncents
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 4:09 p.m.
I think Frances McMullen should be commended for her service. Those that cannot figure out how to cast a ballot without some sort of instruction are.... well I don't want the comment to get deleted so I'll just let you imagine what I'm thinking.
YpsilantiLoyalOne
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 2:51 p.m.
I think Ms. McMullan is doing the right thing by sending notices to inform people. She is taking responsibility for her office although there were only two complaints, she is still trying to make sure that everyone knows the proper way to mark their ballot and she deserves credit for that.
not a billy
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 1:27 p.m.
What's that sound I hear? Sounds like water gurgling? Must be something circling the drain. Let's put a stop to the nonsense and just shut down the overarching incompetence of city government . It's pretty obvious that the term "government" is widely misused and obviously not understood in the City of Ypsilanti. Somebody needs to look up the word in a dictionary and share the definition with city officials, citizens, and the media. Man, am I glad I don't live there!
The Black Stallion3
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 12:23 p.m.
McMullen said former Assistant City Clerk Felicia Rutledge, was tasked with mailing out a batch of ballots between Sept. 24 and Oct. 2. Are you saying Rutledge was not paid staff?
City Confidential
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 12:08 p.m.
Frances McMullan is doing the best she can with what she has in terms of resources. She is very competent and is an important asset to our city. This was a simple error in instructing an intern. When our city is relying on interns and volunteers to do the work that paid staff once did, some small errors will occur. When city staff members are covering the workload of several positions, some small errors will occur. Ms. McMullan is doing the right thing by trying to correct the problem. I am disheartened to hear that Felicia Rutledge has left for another job - she was wonderful to work with whenever I needed anything at the Clerk's office. Good luck to her!
YpsilantiLoyalOne
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 7:25 a.m.
greg, too if you read the article it states the Assistant Deputy Clerk is responsible for the task and it is not uncommon for interns or temporary employees to help stuff ballot envelopes. Are you saying the City Clerk should have spent valuable time stuffing and watching each person who stuffed a ballot? No, she is probably focusing on those more important tasks that you assume have been doled out. Understand the process and know the facts before commenting. Further Ms. McMullen is liked by Council and staff and there has not been an attempt to fire her.
greg, too
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 3:21 a.m.
To put an intern in charge of something as important as this shows the true lack of leadership from McMullen. Is it a fireable offense? Probably not (they tried to fire her before and failed...). But it is something to keep an eye on. It also might not be a bad idea to see what other important duties she has doled out on unpaid employees.
harry
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 12:52 p.m.
Then the intern should be fired and she should be written up for not following through. If you give a job to a unpaid intern you should probably check their work. All of us in our jobs are working with limited resources. It is still not an excuse for messing up.
The Black Stallion3
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 11:40 a.m.
Enough of this incompetence of government employees.....If you are in charge then it is your job to see that things like this are done correctly....stop passing the blame....Frances McMullen needs to be fired.
akronymn
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 1:44 p.m.
You are so wrong. I understand being pissed off but don't be ignorant. Frances McMullen is very competent.
ahi
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 7:22 p.m.
Seriously? An honest mistake by a subordinate and an intern is a fireable offense?