Nathan Barnes (Staff file photo)
by Mary Rupert
The primary election is not quite over yet, according to Nathan Barnes, who was in third place for the Unified Government Commission, 1st District at large position.
Second-place winner Mark Gilstrap had 10 votes more than Barnes. First-place winner Melissa Bynum had 23 more votes than Gilstrap in the close contest.
The unofficial vote Tuesday night was Melissa Bynum, 1,125; Mark Gilstrap, 1,102; and Nathan Barnes, 1,092.
Barnes, a UG commissioner from the 1st District for 18 years, said today that election results are still pending until they are certified on Monday morning.
It’s been his experience that usually there are about 30 ballots or so that are “provisional,” he said, and the board of canvassers has to decide whether to count them or not.
Barnes said he would have to wait until after the canvass Monday to decide whether or not to ask for a recount.
He said he is currently investigating to see why his election mailer did not reach some addresses on the east side of Kansas City, Kan., before the election. It reached some addresses in the 66109 and 66112 areas on the west side before the election, but not on the east side of the city, he said. Some persons on the east side of the city received his mailer today, he said. He added it appeared to him that the mailers were dropped off at the post office on time.
“I know there would have been 12 votes on this end of town if I’d got my mailer out,” Barnes said.
Barnes also had an automated telephone call that reached some voters, as did several other candidates. Barnes’ campaign helped encourage voters to go to the polls early or to use mail-in ballots in advance voting, but his numbers of advance voters were not quite as high as he had hoped, he said.
