City, state won’t combine ballots

Published 3:00 am Tuesday, April 25, 2017

The City of Troy has decided not to combine a municipal referendum on Sunday alcohol sales with a statewide special election later this year.

City Clerk Alton Starling said he discussed the possibility with Probate Judge Wes Allen last week and came to a mutual decision not to combine municipal and county elections.

“Since I’m responsible for municipal elections and (Allen) is responsible for county elections, we decided we should never combine the two,” Starling said.

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Starling said running the elections on the same day would likely cause confusion as some Troy residents would have to vote at two different locations for the separate elections.

One election being challenged could potentially affect the other election as well Starling said.

Allen said the elections could not actually be combined anyways– each would still require certain separations.

“The special primary election and municipal referendum cannot be combined,” Allen said. “For example, both require different poll books, voting machines, and poll workers. We want to make sure both elections run as smooth as possible.”