Mayor, Place 1 candidates to redraw for ballot placement

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Four of the seven candidates for three city council positions gathered at Copperas Cove City Hall on Wednesday morning to draw their positions on the November 3 general election ballot.

However, those two of those candidates will now find themselves at the city secretary's office on Monday morning to draw again due to an issue with ordering of the ballot for those candidates not present.

“City administration responded to a complaint regarding the process utilized by consulting with the city attorney and Secretary of State legal staff to review the process utilized for candidate placement on the ballot for positions with more than one candidate,” said Kevin Keller, the city's public information officer. “The original drawing occurred on August 26, 2015. To ensure compliance with State election laws, the city will conduct a redraw for the positions of Mayor and Place 1.”

Using a set of Scrabble tiles from A-Z, City Secretary Mariela Altott had each candidate, starting with the candidates for mayor, draw a tile. Whoever drew the closest letter to A, would get their name listed first under that position on the ballot.

Mayoral candidate Frank Seffrood was present on Monday, and happened to draw the letter M, with candidate Gary Kent being absent. For the drawing for city council place 1 ballot positions, candidates Alonso Taylor and Azeita Taylor were not present on Wednesday morning. Candidate David Morris was present and had drawn the letter J.

For city council place 2, Mark Peterson drew the letter R, placing his name after James Pierce Jr., who drew the letter K. According to the city, since Peterson and Pierce were both present, they do not need to re-draw for the ballot position for place 2.

The city secretary has yet one more ballot draw to hold, this one for the special election for city council place 3. This ballot drawing will come after the 5 p.m. on Wednesday, September 3 deadline for accepting applications passes. Thus far, Dan Yancey and Ernest “Skip” Gravatt have submitted applications to run for that council seat.