Bad ballots went to more than 4,000 Merced County voters. What’s being done about it

More than 4,000 incorrect ballots were sent to Merced County voters ahead of the Nov. 8 election, officials said this week.

According to Merced County spokesperson Mike North, human error appears to be the reason for the incorrect ballots and the county is continuing its efforts to identify the exact cause.

“Right now, the primary focus is on fixing and making it right,” he said.

The county said the ballots containing incorrect local races total 4,161 and were a result of precinct issues associated with the redistricting process. According to the county, a prior issue had already been corrected for affected Los Banos ballots.

Merced County residents began reporting the ballot errors to the county last week and a small crowd gathered outside the Merced County Administration Building on Friday, to protest the mistakes on the ballots which were sent out to some voters.

North said corrected ballots were printed over this past weekend and mailed out Monday to residents who received an incorrect ballot. Affected voters can expect to receive a letter from the elections office in both English and Spanish on how to identify and vote with the corrected ballot.

According to North, the corrected ballots will have a “#2” printed on the outside of the Vote-By-Mail envelope indicating to voters that it is the corrected ballot. The county has also released information on social media alerting the public to the errors that affected a portion of the ballots. Anyone voting in person will be supplied with a corrected ballot if they reside in one of the affected precincts.

“We’re trying to do anything we can in as many ways as possible to inform the public,” North said.

North called the error an unfortunate situation that the county takes very seriously.

“It’s a human error, as far as getting into more specifics than that – we’re still looking into it,” North said.

North said many people are working to fix the errors and make them right and the county has been working with the Secretary of State’s Office as well as outside counsel Nielsen Merksamer to make sure it is done right. The county is also attempting to identify how the error occurred in an effort to put any needed plan in place to prevent it from happening again in the future.

What if you’ve already voted?

According to North, if voters have already submitted a ballot containing errors, the Merced County elections office will not simply throw that ballot away. North said every attempt with be made to contact that voter and assist them with submitting a correct ballot prior to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8.

North said the county elections office will review each ballot submitted from affected precincts to ensure votes are counted correctly.

According to the county, if a voter returns the original ballot containing errors and not a corrected ballot, the entire ballot will not be void and only the votes pertaining to the district in which the voter resides will be counted.

According to the county, the affected precincts and areas are 142-2 Los Banos Measure D, 174-3 Los Banos Measure D, 180-0 Santa Nella Measure D, 180-1 Santa Nella Measure D, 186-1 Los Banos Measure D, 230-0 Merced City Council District 4, 230-1 Merced City Council District 4, 236 Merced City Council District 4, 254 Merced City Council District 6, 340 Merced City Council District 6, 423-2 Gustine Measure D and 461 Atwater Elementary School District Area 5.

Anyone with questions regarding Merced County ballots can contact the Merced County Elections Office at 209-385-7541.