Cass County held their Party Placement Lottery last week to determine placement of the Democratic and Republican parties for the November 6th general election.
Shelly Wessel is the Cass County Clerk and the Election Authority.
Wessel talks about the preparation and participation for the Lottery Ceremony, as well as who all was in attendance for the Party Placement Lottery.
“First of all, I notify both party chairmen, Republican and Democrat. The party chairmen are invited to attend the Party Placement Lottery. If they cannot attend, then they usually ask me to get a representative on their behalf. Terry Blakeman, the Republican party chairman, was present. And then the Democratic party chairman was having some health issues so she was unavailable. So I pulled a Democratic representative from our county Treasurer’s office.”
Wessel describes the process of the lottery and the eventual results.
“What we do is we put five ping pong balls in a box numbered 1 through 5. I explain to the individuals who are pulling that the lowest number on the ball… that is the party that will be placed first on the ballot. Mr. Blakeman pulled the number 5 and the Democratic representative pulled the number 1. So the Democrats will be represented on the ballot first, and the Republicans will follow.”
Wessel mentions that this is only a ballot placement ceremony for the Democratic and Republican parties.
“The New Party and the Independent Party can still file for the general election, however they do not play a part in the Party Placement Lottery. This was just for the party placement on the ballot only.”
This ceremony is held for every general election, and must be scheduled before the corresponding primary election.