The Warren County Auditor’s office has sent at least two voters an “incorrect ballot style” in response to absentee ballot requests. In one instance, The Iowa Standard was told a couple living at the same residence received a proper ballot and a ballot for an entirely different city.
According to a release from the Warren County Auditor, the office has addressed the voters by providing the correct ballot style. The Iowa Standard emailed the auditor’s office to ask how they can be sure the wrong ballots were sent to two people and what mechanisms are in place to ensure a wrong ballot wasn’t sent to a voter and received by the auditor’s office and is set to be counted toward the election results.
We have not received a response.
After the error was discovered, it is said “someone” is calling people to instruct them to make sure they received the proper ballot. The caller is instructing voters to unseal or open the ballot to check it. However, taking the ballot out of the white return affidavit envelope after it has been sealed means the ballot cannot be counted.
If voters have opened their ballot after sealing it, they are encouraged to call the auditor’s office at 515-690-9180. The auditor’s office states it will void the ballot and replace it with a new ballot and envelope.
The Warren County Auditor is well aware that their mistake of providing “incorrect ballot styles” to voters is precisely why calls were being made to voters to ensure that they had the right ballots. These are not separate, unrelated issues, which is the way the Auditor’s press release treats them.
In plain English, getting the “incorrect ballot style” means you received the wrong ballot. In one instance, a voter in Indianola Precinct Number 4 received from the Warren County Auditor a ballot for Norwalk Precinct Number 5. The voter fortunately realized that he had the wrong ballot before he sent it in. If the voter completed and returned the ballot, he would have been voting for an Iowa House Representative in a district that was not his, and for a Warren County Supervisor in a district that wasn’t his, not to mention other lesser offices.
The auditor was made aware that the calls were made on the night the above wrong ballot was discovered. Calls were made by volunteers to absentee voters in Indianola Precinct 4 to ascertain if this event had been duplicated. A grand total of ONE call was made to one address, with 2 voters, where the volunteer, trying to find out what happened, suggested opening the ballot envelope to examine the voted ballot. Another person in the household called back and told the volunteer that they were not going to open their ballot envelopes. The volunteer said that was fine and later called back, in response to a message from one of the voters, to leave a message informing the voters that if they were to open the ballot envelope, the ballot would be spoiled and have to be replaced. The problem of possibly opening a ballot envelope, which never was done by the voters, has been resolved. The hypothetical opened envelope problem would never had happened if the Warren County Auditor had done its job correctly.
It is now revealed by the Warren County Auditor that a second wrong ballot had been provided to another voter.
I have been informed tonight by contact with a local candidate that TWO more cases have been found where the wrong ballot was sent to Warren County absentee voters.
After the election a public records request will have to be made to the Warren County Auditor to ascertain the total number of known wrong absentee ballots they sent out.
This is a serious matter. People should not be denied their right to vote for the offices for which they are entitled to vote because the Warren County Auditor sent them the wrong ballot. The number of wrong ballots sent out to absentee voters should be zero.
The Auditor’s office should be encouraging absentee voters to check their ballots. This would not only ensure that voters have the correct ballots, the public response to such an appeal would help inform the Auditor’s office of how extensive the wrong ballot problem is.
Each absentee voter should check his or her ballot to make sure they have the correct ballot. Each absentee voter should check his or her ballot to make sure it is for their precinct. The precinct will be named at the top of the ballot.
If you are not sure what your precinct is, you can find out by visiting the Iowa Secretary of State’s website for “Find Your Precinct/Polling Place” at this link https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/VoterReg/PollingPlace/search.aspx
If you determine that you have the wrong ballot, or are not certain after investigating the matter, contact the Warren County Auditor at 515-690-9180 to get the correct ballot, if necessary.
If you have already placed your ballot in a sealed envelope to be returned to the auditor, do NOT open the envelope. If the envelope has been opened, the ballot will be considered to be “spoiled” and not counted when received by the auditor. If you spoil your ballot, contact the Warren County Auditor at 515-690-9180 to get a replacement.