Some of the half a million New York voters who requested mail-in ballots began receiving them on Monday, but immediately there were problems.
Voters in Queens and Brooklyn began to report that their ballots were either incorrectly marked for military use or contained a return envelope with the wrong name and address on it — which if returned would mean their vote would be voided.
The New York Board of Elections confirmed late on Monday that a series of errors led to some voters getting the wrong ballots, but it was unable to say how widespread the issue was, and urged voters to contact them if they had received an incorrect ballot.
Dozens of voters in New York city posted images and complaints about this issue on social media on Monday as ballots began to arrive in people’s homes.
One issue flagged on Monday related to the security envelopes that are sent out with absentee ballots and that voters are meant to sign. Some voters received security envelopes with someone else’s name and address printed on them.
Michael Ryan, the BOE’s executive director, told the Gothamist that the problem was down to an error made by Phoenix Graphics, the company hired to print and mail the ballots for voters in Brooklyn and Queens.
The BOE urged voters who had received an incorrectly labeled envelope to contact them by phone, email, or on Twitter.
The second issue meant some voters received an “Official Military Absentee Ballot” instead of a “Military/Absentee Ballot.” The BOE said this was a typographical error, and that a dash that was meant to separate the words “absentee” and “military” was dropped.
“This apparent typo just has everyone confused and believing these are invalid ballots,” Jimmy Van Bramer, a New York City Councilman, told the New York Post. “It’s absolutely outrageous that when everyone is watching them, they still screw up the most basic thing, which is printing the ballot correctly.”
Van Bramer said he has been contacted by at least a dozen constituents about the issue but said that is likely “the tip of the iceberg,” adding: “It appears that everyone has gotten this particular ballot.”
“All absentee ballots are labeled ‘Absentee Military Ballot,’ even for non-military voters,” Valerie Vazquez, a spokesperson for the BOE told the New York Post.
The BOE said that despite the confusion, all ballots would be counted as normal.
President Donald Trump jumped on the errors by retweeting multiple posts from people who had received incorrect ballots in the mail on Monday.
Trump and the GOP have been using a surge in requests for mail-in ballots as a result of the pandemic to claim that it’s an attempt by the Democrats to rig the election — despite the fact there’s no evidence to support the claim.
Meanwhile, as Trump continues to give oxygen to this disinformation on social media, his campaign is also urging voters to request their own absentee ballots in time to vote in November.
But the latest errors in New York are likely to add to the confusion caused by Trump’s disinformation campaign.
“People were already not trusting this process and they were already not trusting the Board of Elections to count the ballot right,” Van Bramer said.
Cover: Cages loaded with ballots in United Postal Service bins rest behind a worker at a Board of Elections facility in New York Wednesday, July, 22, 2020. The huge spike in mail-in voting in the state's June 23 primary has fueled concerns that voters could be disenfranchised in New York under existing rules derided by voting rights groups as outdated. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
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