KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mayor Quinton Lucas had to visit his polling place twice on Tuesday, after a name entry mistake initially prevented him from casting his vote.
The mayor encouraged residents to vote early this morning on Twitter, before the mistake happened.
I made a video this morning about the importance of voting and then got turned away because I wasn’t in the system even though I’ve voted there for 11 years, including for myself four times! Go figure, but that’s okay. We’ll be back later today! #Vote #KCMO pic.twitter.com/3mYNrO6jmC
— Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) March 10, 2020
Shawn Kieffer, the director of the Kansas City Election Board, said the issue arose when an election judge entered the mayor's name backwards.
It was entered as "Lucas, Quinton." Kieffer said Lucas should have asked for a verification specialist at his polling place and the issue would have been corrected, or he could have voted provisionally, and the issue would have been cleared up.
Kieffer said that if a voter has an issue, they typically can vote provisionally and the matter can be investigated.
Lucas said voting should be easier and his experience is proof of that.
“How much did the city actually invest in this election? How are we making sure there are more safeguards to ensure folks aren’t running into issues?” Lucas said. “What I’d like to take from this is a learning opportunity for all of us. What are the options if you have some concerns? How can we get more people involved?”
Later Tuesday morning, the board posted a video to Facebook in which Democratic Director Lauri Ealom first apologized to Lucas "for the inconvenience this morning," and then explained how provisional voting works.
Lucas returned to his polling place in the afternoon and voted.
In a later Tweet, the mayor said, "If the mayor can get turned away, think about everyone else... We gotta do better."
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