Here’s two stories from the Sacramento Bee detailing separate ballot problems in California:
Claim: President Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted that Los Angeles County had sent out 2,000 faulty ballots with no way to vote for president, alleging corruption.
Rating: Mostly true.
Details: The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that more than 2,000 residents received mail-in ballots with no way to vote in the presidential election. The office of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk on Wednesday confirmed to The Sacramento Bee that some mail-in ballots distributed in Woodland Hills this week contained printing errors. The office said it believes the faulty ballots were mailed to a single precinct of just over 2,100 voters, making up a small percentage of the county’s 5.6 million registered voters.
Trump on Tuesday included the printing error in a tweet casting doubt on the upcoming election.
“11,00 North Carolina residents get incorrect voter registration forms. 2000 LA County Voters received ‘faulty’ Ballots, with NO WAY TO VOTE FOR PRESIDENT. Many others throughout USA. Here we go. This will be the most corrupt Election in American History!” the president said.
There’s no evidence the error will affect the election.
Los Angeles County is now in the process of alerting affected voters of the error by robocall and email, a spokesman said. On Tuesday, the county began mailing out new, corrected ballots with a letter describing the error.
“We encourage all voters to discard the faulty ballot and fill-out and return the accurate one. If they have already filled out and mailed their original ballot, we will cancel their original ballot once their new ballot is received,” said Mario Vargas with the office of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
All 21 million registered California voters will receive ballots in the mail ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Ballots can be returned through the postal service or by dropping them off at designated county drop boxes and voting centers. The president has repeatedly cast doubt on the safety and validity of mail ballots, but California state officials and voting experts maintain the method is safe and reliable.
Yolo County elections officials mistakenly mailed out nearly 600 ballots with an incorrect local race or measure, and they say they developed a plan to correct the error and ensure nobody votes twice.
Officials announced Friday in a news release that out of 115,260 vote-by-mail ballots sent out this week, 581 voters in 371 homes received incorrect ballots for the Nov. 3 election. The incorrect ballots were sent to voters in Davis, West Sacramento, Woodland and Winters.
“This error occurred due to a transitioning of data systems, where not all streets were correctly carried over into the appropriate precinct as expected,” according to the news release from the county elections office. A list of the main areas where incorrect ballots were sent is available online in the news release.
Within hours of confirming the error, elections officials determined who received the incorrect ballots and began implementing the plan to correct the mistake. All voters who received an incorrect ballot will receive an expedited, newly issued precinct ballot and a voter information guide, along with a letter describing the error, officials said.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and are working diligently to resolve this issue,” Jesse Salinas, the county’s assessor, clerk-recorder and registrar of voters, said in the news release.
Any voter with an incorrect ballot and who is contacted by the elections office should discard the incorrect ballot and fill out and return the new one, according to the news release.
If a voter already filled out and mailed an incorrect ballot, elections officials said they we will cancel that ballot once the new ballot is received. They say this will ensure no voter is able to vote twice.
Officials said 90% of the voters who received an incorrect ballot in Davis live in the Covell Commons Condos and the 8th and Wake Apartment complex. They said efforts were underway to directly contact the management at those properties.
San Joaquin County elections officials mistakenly mailed incorrect ballots that left out a race for San Joaquin Delta Community College District Trustee Area 2. ABC 10 reported that county is mailing replacement ballots that include the college district trustees race.
Any voters with a question about their ballot or who believes they received something in error can call the Yolo County Elections Office at 530-666-8133.
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