MENDOCINO Co., 2/21/24 — Mendocino County primary ballots may contain another set of errors, based on the use of old maps prior to the redistricting of county supervisor districts in 2021, according to an announcement issued by county officials this afternoon. The announcement follows an earlier error on ballots sent in early February, which was attributed to the third party vendor, in which some voters received Republican Party ballots when not registered with the party.
The California primary election takes place March 5, and Mendocino County officials are consulting with the California Secretary of State’s office for guidance as to how to best address the issues. Today’s announcement notes that county officials had received reports of ballots that listed candidates for supervisors’ districts before redistricting, as opposed to the current ones. It is unclear from the announcement how many voters or ballots this might include, and how the error occurred.
“Most importantly, we want to assure voters that they will receive and get the proper ballots and that every vote will be properly counted. We are going to be working overtime to get to the bottom of what has gone wrong and to ensure voters receive the proper ballots,” states Mendocino County CEO Darcie Antle in today’s announcement.
According to a county announcement last week, corrected ballots were sent out Feb. 16 to address the earlier error, in which voters were sent ballots with the wrong party. Anyone with questions or concerns about their ballot or who has yet to receive a corrected ballot should call 707-234-6819.
You can read more of our coverage of the earlier ballot error here, and our coverage of the redistricting process here. The Mendocino Voice will continue to follow this story and update our coverage as more information becomes available.
Here’s the complete announcement sent from the Mendocino County Executive’s Office:
Mendocino County Seeks Counsel from State of California After Discovering Additional Incorrect Ballot Issues from Registrar of Voters, Candidates
County officials today said they are investigating new reports of incorrect ballots for the upcoming March election and are seeking guidance from the Secretary of State’s office on how to address the situation.
The County was made aware today of candidate and resident concerns that voters may be receiving ballots from the incorrect Supervisorial districts. The initial belief is that the 2021 redistricting may not have been correctly imputed into the voter files.
“We want to bring this new issue to the immediate attention of Mendocino County voters as soon as we learned of it,” said County Chief Executive Officer Darcie Antle. “We are investigating the issues with the Register of Voters office and their vendor. We are seeking guidance from the State of California’s Secretary of State’s Office.”
“Most importantly, we want to assure voters that they will receive and get the proper ballots and that every vote will be properly counted. We are going to be working overtime to get to the bottom of what has gone wrong and to ensure voters receive the proper ballots,” Antle added.
The county is also seeking assistance from Renne Public Law group, one of the state’s top municipal government law firms, in determining next steps.
