County serving Ohio’s capital says nearly 50,000 voters received wrong ballots
COLUMBUS,
Ohio (AP) — Nearly 50,000 voters received incorrect absentee ballots in
the county that is home to Ohio’s capital and largest city, elections
officials said Friday as they promised corrected ballots would be mailed
within 72 hours.
With about 240,000 ballots mailed, that meant
one in five voters received a wrong ballot. The error happened Saturday
afternoon when someone changed a setting on a machine that places
absentee ballots into mailing envelopes, Franklin County elections
officials said Thursday.
Some ballots had an incorrect
congressional race, while others had the correct information but were
sent to voters in a different precinct. The Franklin County Elections
Board said 49,669 voters received incorrect ballots out of 237,498 that
were mailed.
That represents 6% of Franklin County’s approximately
880,000 registered voters, and 0.6% of the 8 million voters registered
statewide in the presidential battleground.
The process to print,
stuff the replacement ballots in envelopes and mail them was underway
Friday, the Franklin County Elections Board announced.
The board
also said it will mail postcards to all affected voters detailing the
situation and highlighting voters’ options moving forward. Those options
include voting in-person at the board’s offices on the city’s north
side.
The elections board said multiple checks are in place to
ensure only one voter can cast a ballot, including rejecting any
replacement ballots if someone went ahead and voted in person.
The
news of the incorrect ballots brought renewed focus on an election
seeing an unprecedented number of absentee ballot requests, spurred by
the coronavirus pandemic and concerns about in-person voting.
On
Tuesday, Ohio’s elections chief announced that Ohio’s 88 elections
boards received a record number of absentee ballot applications.
Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said 2,154,235 applications
had been received — more than double the 1,091,188 absentee ballots
applications at the same time four years ago.
President Donald Trump, who has alleged fraud associated with voting by mail with no evidence such fraud exists, quickly cited the Franklin County case on Twitter, calling it a case of a “rigged election.”
No such evidence exists.
“Mr. President, it certainly was a serious mistake, but a serious mistake that we’re working hard to make right,” the board tweeted in response to Trump. “Our board is bipartisan and our elections are fair. And every vote will be counted.”
Just minutes after his tweet alleging fraud in Ohio, the president tweeted in support of Colorado, which has an all-mail balloting system.
“COLORADO! Your mail ballots are being sent out beginning TODAY! Fill them out and VOTE #TrumpPence2020!” the president tweeted.
Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth contributed to this report.