The following statement was released recently by San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Melinda Dubroff in response to an error involving a Board of Trustees candidate race where 2,265 voters of the 51,000 voters in the San Joaquin Delta Community College District Trustee Area 2 (TA2) received a ballot that did not contain that contest.
“The Registrar of Voters Office discovered a ballot error in the San Joaquin Delta Community College District Trustee Area 2 race directly following the mailing of ballots on October 5th.”
To immediately correct this oversight, 2,265 voters eligible to vote on the Trustee Area 2 contest will receive a new replacement ballot that was mailed to them on Friday, Oct. 9.
The outer envelope will have the words “Corrected Ballot Inside” in both English and Spanish. The ballot packet will contain a letter from Dubroff outlining why they are receiving the replacement ballot, and how the office is handling their voted ballots. Both the Sample Ballot and Voter Information Pamphlet for voters will contain Trustee Area 2 and the candidate statements for that Trustee Area 2.
“If the voter has already returned the original ballot, we will hold their original ballot in suspension until we have contacted them by phone or email to give them the opportunity to vote on the replacement ballot, or until we receive the replacement ballot. We will count the original ballot if we do not receive the replacement ballot. For replacement ballots, voters should vote all of the contests of interest on the replacement ballot and not just the contest missing on the original ballot.”
The office will also send a postcard to each voter alerting them to the corrected ballot in case they did not open their replacement ballot package. In addition, they will send an email and/or a ‘robo-call’ to the voters who have their contact information on file.
“My office sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience, confusion, or concern this may have caused,” said Dubroff. “We encourage voters to contact 209-468-VOTE (8683) or registrar@sjgov.org with any questions or concerns or visit: www.sjcrov.org.”
