Election officials acknowledged on Tuesday that 100,000 New York City voters received defective absentee ballots, raising doubts about the city’s ability to handle a pandemic-era presidential election with millions of mail-in ballots expected.
What We Know:
- The problems with defective ballots were mostly confined to Brooklyn where voters raised concerns of outrage and confusion after seeing that their ballots had mismatched names and addresses on the outer and inner mail-back envelopes. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who does not control the New York City election board, called its most recent failure “appalling”.
- Residents in Brooklyn shared their experiences with the defective ballots. Some received an absentee ballot with a stranger’s name on it, others say they have received ballots with the wrong information on them, and even more, say the name and addresses on the outside of the ballot did not match those on the inside.
- The problems in New York City are yet another blemish for the New York City Board of Elections, run by a board of Democrats and Republicans who has a long history of mismanaging elections. Michael Ryan, the board’s executive director, is placing the blame on the board’s vendor, Phoenix Graphics, a commercial printing company based in Rochester, NY. The company was hired to mail out ballots in Brooklyn and Queens. Ryan said the error was limited to “one print run”. Ryan also said the vendor would bear the cost of sending out new ballots to all potentially affected voters by November 3.
“It is essential that confidence be established in this process and that we make certain that all of the voters who potentially have a problem have a full and fair opportunity to remedy that problem,” Ryan said.
- Phoenix Graphics is a family-owned firm that prides itself on its “ability to deliver a high-quality product on time and within budget”. According to city records, the company has worked with the city’s Board of Elections since at least 2010, including during the June primaries. Phoenix Graphics did not comment on the error at this time.
- Officials have also encouraged voters to email or call a hotline if they received an erroneous ballot, although phone lines already appear to be jammed. Two voters reported calling on Monday and being told they were 65th and “80-something” in line.
— NYCBoardOfElections (@BOENYC) September 29, 2020
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Wrong ballots signed by voters will be invalid. Voters who unwittingly sign erroneous ballots will still be able to vote, via either a second ballot or in person, according to Sarah Steiner, an elections lawyer. Steiner added that in-person votes cancel a voter’s absentee ballot. “I’m worried because anything that confuses voters at this point or makes them leery of voting or suspicious of the process is damaging to democracy,” Steiner said.
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The city elections board is also dealing with confusion regarding another printing anomaly on absentee ballots. Ordinarily, absentee ballots in the city are sent out with a heading identifying them as an “Official Absentee / Military Ballot”. However, this year, the slash between “absentee” and “military” was left out, leading some voters to believe they had erroneously received a ballot for use only by members of the military. The board took to social media to let New Yorkers know the ballot was still good for use by any registered voter.
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The defective ballots come as President Trump has made repeated claims and baseless challenges to the accuracy and integrity of mail-in voting. On Monday night, Trump shared four news articles on Twitter describing the absentee ballot issues in New York.
Make sure to check your ballot carefully for all the correct information to avoid your ballot being disqualified later on. Head to your Board of Elections website to get up-to-date voting information in your county. Your vote counts!
