Elections officials omit race from sample ballot

Chalking the mistake up to a data entry oversight, Irizarry said officials are in the process of crafting an insert which will be included with the official ballot highlighting the changes and offering information originally intended to be included with the sample.

Unable to recall a similar mistake, Irizarry detailed the complex system which must be managed by elections officials responsible for serving a vast network of voters.

“I cannot specifically recall a similar instance, however, every election official must admit that errors do occur in just about every election. Some smaller than others,” he said in an email. “It’s not if an error or malfunction occurs but how these situations are managed and corrected without impacting or compromising the election.”

Elections officials incorrectly identified the race as a district election, resulting in only those living in District 1 along the coast receiving information about the candidates in their sample ballot. The Board of Education shifted its election format requiring candidates to be residents of the district they represent, but members are elected by voters across the county.

Irizarry said the additional information will be sent with actual ballots Monday, Oct. 15, and will not cause a delay in voters receiving their material within the legal time requirements.

Alvaro said her primary fear from the scramble to rectify the mistake is confounding voters who did not see the race on their initial information pamphlet.

“This could be really confusing for people and I could see people skipping over it because it is confusing,” said Alvaro.

She also noted the amount of residents in the coastal district pales in comparison to the rest of the county’s population, meaning the omission would result in a large majority of voters being left uninformed about the race.

Alvaro’s frustration is compounded because she did not pay to include a candidate statement in the sample material, which means only Kwan’s statement will be presented in the additional material packaged with the actual ballot.

Alvaro said she fears the unconventional response required by elections officials will give her challenger an unfair advantage when voters go to fill out their ballot. She balanced that frustration though against the challenge facing Chief Elections Officer Mark Church, who needed to rush to fix the error.

“Does that give the other guy a little bit of an edge because his statement is going out with the ballot? Sure. But does [Church] have any other choice? No, because he is between the sword and the wall. He’s between a rock and a hard place,” she said.

Kwan meanwhile said he did not know about the mishap, but expressed appreciation for elections officials working to address the issue.

“I was completely unaware of this and I am thankful the county will rectify this situation,” he said.

He also supported packaging his candidate statement with the actual ballot.

“I think that is actually better than putting it in the sample ballot because people will be able to read my candidate statement and I think I am the only candidate to put out a candidate statement,” he said, noting his only additional request is that elections officials apologize for their mistake.

Meanwhile, Irizarry took time to illustrate ways such an error may be possible as officials attempt to manage the variety of responsibilities associated with running an election.

“It’s a lot like the World Series and Super Bowl in the last minutes of the game, wrapped up into one with no room for error,” he said. “Fortunately, we win the game all the time. There is no other alternative.”

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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