SPARTA, Mich. — The Village of Sparta has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to void the results of an August library millage election and order a new vote due to incorrect ballot language.
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Sparta voters approved the library millage renewal by a slim margin despite a critical error in the ballot wording. The word "not" was omitted from the proposal, meaning voters approved a measure that said "to exceed 0.2375 mill" instead of "not to exceed."
The village filed the lawsuit Sept. 3 against Sparta Township, citing the language mistake.
"The village, along with council members and taxpayers, is asking the court to review the election for the irregularities that were in it," said Jim Lower, Sparta village manager. "We want them to acknowledge the fact that the language on the ballot confused voters and isn't implementable in any legal way."
Village President Robert Whalen said the ballot had additional problems beyond the missing word.
The proposal also incorrectly stated that a portion of the millage would go to the village's downtown development authority. However, Michigan state law prohibits capturing DDA funds within a library millage.
"Our DDA is very popular in the village and, in fact, the only precinct where this thing succeeded was in the village where the DDA is very popular. So we think that that was problematic as well," Lower said.
Both village leaders emphasized the lawsuit doesn't mean they oppose the library.
"We all support the library. We realize the importance of a library. The ironic thing is the ballot itself proved how important reading is. By omitting one word, it changed the whole entire ballot," Whalen said.
Lower said the village believes a new election is necessary.
"Redo it, get it passed the right way, and then everyone can move on," he said. "Would it be easy to ignore it and just kind of stick our head in the sand? I suppose, but we don't think that that's the right thing to do, and it takes some real leadership."
The Sparta Township supervisor was not available for comment. The next step is for a hearing to be scheduled in circuit court.
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