[EL] Lack of specificity on ballot instructions

[Vince Leibowitz]

Fellow Listers, 

A few moments ago, I voted in my local elections and noticed a peculiarity on the ballot for the local independent school district in Mineola, Texas. 

The ballot instructions--printed atop the ballot--did not instruct the voter on how many candidates they could cast a ballot for. In this particular election, you could vote for as many as two candidates from a list of six; however, this wasn't specified. It simply had the standard language, "mark an 'X' beside your choice" ("choice" was singular.) I knew there were two seats open and that I could vote for two candidates, and double checked this with the election judge to make sure I hadn't slipped into some alternate electoral universe (in some years, you vote for three board members). 

My question is this: was the ballot fatally flawed? That is to say if I as a voter or a loosing candidate in the election wished to challenge on these grounds (assuming final numerical tallies showed it was likely too many people cast a vote for only one candidate, or an abnormal number of voters were disqualified for voting for too many candidates), what are the likelihood of prevailing? Is this a HAVA violation?

Thoughts? 

Vince Leibowitz
Principal Consultant
The Dawn Group
DGTexas.com
512.705.7001

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