Thousands of absentee ballots may be considered invalid in
regards to the Sunnyslope Water District election due to incorrect
instructions on the ballot, head elections official John Hodges
said Monday.
Hollister – Thousands of absentee ballots may be considered invalid in regards to the Sunnyslope Water District election due to incorrect instructions on the ballot, head elections official John Hodges said Monday.
According to a letter sent to the approximately 3,200 absentee voters in the Sunnyslope Water District, an error on the sample and absentee ballots mistakenly told them to vote for three directors when there are only two seats available. Ballots marked with three choices, even those sent in before the error was caught, will be considered invalid for the Sunnyslope Water District election, said Hodges, who also said the confusion is due to a printer’s error. There are 9,238 registered voters in the Sunnyslope Water District. The other races on the ballot will be counted as normal.
Because the deadline to turn in absentee ballots – 8pm on election day, Nov. 2 – doesn’t provide enough time for absentee voters to mail new ballots, those voters will have to go to the elections office to correct their votes for the water district directors in person.
Barbara Brookshire, an absentee voter who received and followed the directions on a misprinted ballot, said she is upset about the effect the mistake could have in the election.
“Once I’ve voted, I set aside all the mail that comes in about elections. There are people who aren’t even going to read that letter,” Brookshire said.
But Hodges said his office has already seen some of the absentee voters come in to recast their votes.
“Quite a few people have come in already,” said Hodges, “and some people have said that there was no misprint on their ballots. Some are saying that there was a misprint but they still only voted for two (directors). In that case, the ballot would still be valid.”
Stephen Hailstone, an incumbent running for one of the two Sunnyslope Water District directorial spots, said he himself has already been notified of the error and is not worried about how it might affect the election.
“I think it will affect (the elections) somewhat. However, they’ve (the elections office) gone out of their way to write a letter to everyone who received the absentee ballot. I just turned mine in today and they told me what had happened. These things happen, and they’re doing everything they can,” Hailstone said.
But Brookshire’s biggest concern is for the absentee voters who may not be able to make it to the elections office to vote in person.
“There are senior citizens who aren’t going to be able to get down there to vote. I’m just so flabbergasted that this type of thing happens. To me, blaming it on the printer is not a good excuse for why it happened,” Brookshire said.
In reply, Hodges said his office is working hard to rectify the situation, especially in regards to voters without the mobility to change their vote in person.
“If there are seniors who can’t make it down, they should call us and we’ll send the Marshal out to them. We can make this right, and we want to do everything possible,” he said.
Hodges also said the ballots are proofread when they come back from the printers, but unfortunately no one caught the errors.
This is not the first time in recent memory that San Benito County election processes have been questioned. In March of this year, the Department of Justice threatened to sue the county for not providing enough resources to Spanish-speaking voters. In the same election, Board of Supervisors candidate Jaime De La Cruz’s campaign illegally turned in ballots for four absentee voters because bad advice from the Elections Office told them it was OK to do so, according to Hodges. De La Cruz’s campaign manager recently was cleared of any wrongdoing in that issue.
This time around, Hodges said, officials are working to make sure neither of those mistakes are repeated. The elections office is currently still in need of 15 more Spanish-speaking poll workers and is requesting that all bilingual San Benito County employees step up to the task.
As far as absentee ballots go, Hodges said, “There were four absentee ballots that were ‘touched’ by De La Cruz’s campaign (in March), which is obviously not OK. But that’s being taken care of. It won’t happen again.”
County Supervisor Reb Monaco said he thinks March’s election mishaps and the printing error on the Sunnyslope Water District absentee ballots are purely coincidental and don’t point to gross error in the elections office.
“I think (the misprint) is really unfortunate. But I think it’s just a case of unfortunate timing,” Monaco said.
Jessica Quandt is a staff writer for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
