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Supervisor of Elections

Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Decision Making

You make decisions every day about how elections in your area should be run. You have even had to make a few decisions about what is best for the voters in terms of how elections should be conducted. But this is one of the things that you were looking forward to in your job -- a way to be the voice of the people without choosing a party.

A recent election in your area resulted in a very close race. Some of the ballots that were cast were thought to be inaccurate.

Because the race is so close, voters and candidates are calling for a recount of the ballots. That sounds like a simple decision until you add two factors to the mix: time and the potential for this to become a worse situation quickly.

You can do the recount, but if it does not please one of the candidates, it could cause legal battles that will drag on for weeks or even months. That means the election won't be complete and your community will be missing a leader until the matter is settled. It also means that there will be questions and fights over ballots that may have been disqualified by the automated counting system.

Or you can refuse the recount. However, if you do that, it is certain that one of the candidates and probably a few of the voters will take the case to court, requesting that a judge rule that a recount must be completed.

Either way, the office won't be filled quickly, and the election is going to cost more money than was planned.

What do you do?