The New York City Board of Elections issued an alert Monday night after voters complained they received mail-in ballots for November's election containing incorrect names, voter IDs and return labels.
Why it matters: Votes risk being voided if the names and required signatures do not match.
— NYCBoardOfElections (@BOENYC) September 29, 2020
- "Normally, the voter inserts their completed ballot into the envelope and signs the outside," Gothamist notes. "But in these cases, their ballot envelopes bear the wrong name and address. If a person signs their own name to this faulty ballot envelope, the ballot would be voided."
Driving the news: Multiple voters in Brooklyn told Gothamist that mislabeled "official absentee ballot" envelopes had been sent to them. The New York Post reports some voters in Queens had received misprinted military ballots.
- City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer told the Post, "There's just mass confusion about these ballots and what people are supposed to do with them. People were already not trusting this process and they were already not trusting the Board of Elections to count the ballot right."
What they're saying: A Board of Election spokesperson told News 4 the source of the error could be attributed to "a vendor hired to print and distribute ballots to voters in Queens and Brooklyn," and pledged to fix the problem for voters in time for the election.
- "We are determining how many voters have been affected but we can assure that the vendor will address this problem in future mailings, and make sure people who received erroneous envelopes receive new ones," the spokesperson said.
- Many New Yorkers posted on Twitter about the ballot mishaps they had encountered:
Also received an envelope with someone else’s name. I spoke to someone at the Brooklyn office who genuinely sounded shocked and panicked when I told her the issue. I was rushed off the phone
— John DePasquale (@johndepasquale_) September 28, 2020
I just got my New York mail-in ballot today and the security envelope I’m supposed to put it in and sign has some other guy’s name and address on it.
— Nathan McDermott (@natemcdermott) September 29, 2020
Gothamist is already reporting other cases, so this is looking to be a widespread problem.https://t.co/lSF3abIXTB pic.twitter.com/4uWmNOwwRW
My mail-in ballot also has someone else's return envelope. This is gonna be a real huge problem, huh. https://t.co/ygx9XgeEE7 pic.twitter.com/JsGxb6yzP5
— Barry Petchesky (@barry) September 28, 2020
PSA: brooklyn absentee voters! I received my absentee ballot today with the wrong name/address/voter ID on the ballot envelope. brooklyn BOE says this mess up affected at least 500 voters but up to 123k. please *check your envelopes* and call your BOE if you find anything amiss!! pic.twitter.com/Vvpw2CjnCA
— allie #insulin4all (she/her) (@autoimmuneallie) September 28, 2020
Imagine my surprise, @BOENYC, to have opened my absentee ballot envelope today, only to find 1) a military ballot (does not apply to me), 2) with someone else's name and address on it. This is of grave concern. pic.twitter.com/8nU3L2a3wd
— Debi Cornwall (@DebiCornwall) September 28, 2020
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