FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 21, 2022
Since the recent election, Concord Community Schools has received numerous inquiries regarding its school board election results. Election night reports indicated that results for the school board race are unofficial and that the election officials would be taking a close look at the results.
Recently, the Elkhart County Clerk informed school corporation representatives that the voting machine computer program was unable to exclude certain improper votes. The voting machine vendor also confirmed that inability with the County Clerk.
Concord Community Schools’ decades-old election plan requires that no more than three candidates serve in one of its two districts. In this election, Concord voters were lawfully permitted to vote for only one candidate from District 2. If a voter selected more than one candidate in District 2, by law, that vote is invalid. On June 28, Concord Community Schools approved the ballot language, allowing election officials and vendors more than four months to test whether the computer program would catch such irregularities.
Comparison of unofficial vote totals between Concord Community Schools District 1 and District 2 support the conclusion that invalid ballots were likely counted. Presently, it is unknown whether the inclusion of the invalid ballots affected the election outcome; only a recount can make that determination.
It is unfortunate that the election outcome is now muddied by possible inaccurate results. Concord Community Schools did not create this predicament, nor can it legally challenge the vote tabulation. Only a school board candidate can do so. As always, Concord Community Schools looks forward to serving our community with whomever our voters selected as board members to lead our schools and educate our students.