TOOELE – Nearly 9,000 people received incorrect ballots in the mail for the Republican Primary Election on Tuesday.
Details of the printing error
Tracy Shaw, the Tooele County Clerk, said the ballots went into the right envelopes and to the right people. The problem was that the ballots had the wrong elections printed on them.
“There’s been a ballot production error that resulted in the wrong ballot being inserted into the wrong envelope,” Shaw said.
Investigation and company response
More than 20,000 ballots were mailed to Tooele County for the primary election, about half of the 42,000 registered voters.
“I’m happy that it’s just a limited number of affected voters and we know who they are,” Shaw said.
Shaw worked with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor to make sure the voter registration data was correct. Shaw said it was.
Then Shaw reached out to KP Corporation, the ballot-printing company they’ve used for the past three elections, and learned the print was incorrect.
“They recognize the severity in the situation,” Shaw said. “There’s not a lot that can be done about the erosion of trust that this can create as a result.”
Yet, Shaw said KP Corporation is fully funding the reprinted ballots and hoping to mail them out by Monday.
“People make mistakes, and that’s okay so long as we have a solution to fix that,” Shaw said. “I don’t think it’s a cause for panic. It’s not a cause for accusations of widespread fraud, and that’s just not happening.”
Corrective measures and new ballots
Together with the lieutenant governor's office, Shaw deactivated the misprinted ballot barcodes, so that if they are submitted, the machines will discard them.
“The system knows the live, active valid ID versus the old that’s been deactivated,” Shaw said.
Instructions for affected voters
The new ballots will include a set of instructions for voting correctly and why people may receive a second ballot.
Shaw said people can throw away the deactivated ballot or vote in person if they feel more comfortable. If folks are unsure, Shaw said they can always call the county clerk’s office.
“Some folks that have filled it out already and put it in a ballot box—that’s fine,” Shaw said. “We’ll take care of it for you. It will be retained in our office but not counted.”
Previous election challenges in Tooele
This is not the first time Shaw has worked with election mistakes.
In her five years as county clerk, Shaw said she’s seen printing errors, postal errors and more.
Once, Shaw said the post office mis-metered a whole town’s ballots.
“That was really scary and deeply concerning,” Shaw said.
Shaw remembers the post office tracking down the truck delivering the ballots to find and fix the problem.
“A solution can always be found in the end,” Shaw said. “The systems are there to make sure that everybody gets one vote and one vote only.”
Other reading: Salt Lake County mail ballot deadline changes
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